A Reasonable Crusade
by The Manperor
Summary: A Crusade Fleet originating from the Aprior Sector has been lost in the Immaterium. When it returns, it is missing one ship. The missing ship is an Inquisitorial Black Ship carrying, in addition to its Inquisitor and normal crew, a squad of Knights Inductor, a group of Sisters of the Order of Reason's Light, and an Apriori Artisan. What happened to this ship, and where did it go?
1. Chapter 1

A Reasonable Crusade

Part I: Ex Tenebra Lux

Chapter I: A New World

The Warp was calm. Not completely calm, like a glass of water on a still table, but with little change, like a lake with a slight breeze. It had been that way ever since they had been knocked off course by something. No one knew what that thing was, but everyone thought they heard something faint that sounded like jester's bells. But that didn't make sense. Even for the Warp.

"Navigator, can you find the Astronomican now?" asked James. They had not moved for a while, due to the calmness of the Warp around them and the lack of a galactic lighthouse to guide them.

"I'm not sure," came the reply, "I can sense it, but it seems to be coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I've told you this before, and it hasn't changed." Sighing mentally, James reached his decision on what to do next.

"Dewarp. It's too dangerous to travel without the Astronomican in an unfamiliar area of the Warp, and with its stillness we won't be going any faster here than in the material realm." The message was passed along the crew, and they started preparations to carry out the Lord Inquisitor's command. At a different time or with a different person they might have questioned the order, seeing as how dewarping now would leave them stuck in the middle of space between star systems, but years of service under his command had taught them that it was better to listen now and object later. After a short wait, a "prolg" sound, and the taste of yellow in everyone's mouths, the Black Ship transitioned to reality. What the crew found on entering the Materium was not what they expected. Instead of the usual endless black punctuated by points of light, what they found was endless black punctuated by points of light and a small, blue planet with a shattered moon. How the moon shards stayed put relative to the moon was beyond each of them. The ship flew over to the planet and parked itself in orbit. Noticing the lushness of the planet, combined with the lack of orbital stations, James ordered the planet to be scanned, hoping to get information on his whereabouts. The stars around him certainly didn't look like any he recognized. The information brought back to him was mildly disturbing.

"Human life is present on the planet, but there is no Gothic architecture, or even a single temple dedicated to the glorious God-Emperor? Surely this means that it's a Chaos controlled world."

"We thought that too at first, but we found no Warp corruption on the planet," replied the nervous crewman. He was still green, unused to serving under an Inquisitor, and such a powerful one at that. "And besides, even if they were Chaos cultists, they hardly control the planet: Humans seem to be relegated to four major cities. However, we have detected no communications between them, only areas of lesser and greater static."

"So it's a feudal world?"

"While it does appear that they are pre-space age, 'feudal' is not quite right. Their technology is only slightly less advanced than ours, and their architecture seems almost Tau like."

James frowned at the implications of this. Was it a world of Gue'vesa that had somehow lost space-faring capabilities? He may not know too much about the Tau, choosing instead to focus on the Xenos of less annoying races, such as Eldar and Orks, but he was certain the Tau Empire wouldn't just let a world drop out like that.

"Prep a landing team. Tell the Astartes to send a null if they have one and have one of the Sisters on it as well. We don't know what we will find down there." After sending the crewman away to do his bidding, James got up and walked to the door leading to his quarters. While he always kept his bolt pistol on him, he decided that it may not be enough. He had no idea what was on the planet after all. He decided not to put on his Inquisitorial evil goon costume, or that stupid hat, instead opting for power armor only. He already had it on, since a Gellar Field failure could occur at any time, and the armor reduced his odds of being raped, killed, and eaten slightly. It might even make it happen in that order. Grabbing his power cane and power saber, he mag locked them to his waist. He finished by grabbing the specially modified lasgun Inquisitor Quercus had given him. He was still unsure how exactly the man had managed to disguise a pulse carbine as a lasgun and, more importantly, how no one had noticed it. Lasguns didn't usually shoot small blue balls of plasma. He headed down to the hangar bay where the landing team was preparing to drop. As he walked in, he noticed the expedition commander was arguing with one of the tech-priests. As he got closer he revised that observation to tech-priestess.

"What is going on here?" James stated in the most Inquisitorial voice he could manage. Considering that he was a Lord Inquisitor, this was quite Inquisitorial. After a surprised gasp from the expedition commander, the tech-priestess answered in a synthesized voice that retained some accent that sounded Vostroyan.

"This young fool is interfering with my Quest for Knowledge. He insists that I not be allowed on the expedition, despite it being the perfect chance to study the natives's technology!" Zora exclaimed. The commander started to protest but James cut him off before he could continue.

"I see no reason that the Artisan cannot come. She will be in more than capable hands," James said, directing a glance at the Astarte and Sister standing inside the Valkyrie Repressor, "and I am sure that she will be able to defend herself if needs be. Now, no more delay, and lets get on with it." With that, they all piled into the Valkyrie. The lights shut off and red emergency lights turned on as the ramp closed, and the Valkyrie took off. The ship shook and groaned as it entered the atmosphere, but no one worried. This was all standard course for the passengers, except for Zora, but her augmetics could tell her nothing was wrong. Actually, it was easier than standard, since they would not be making a hot landing. After a short wait in the inside of the shaking, groaning, Valkyrie, the pilot set the ship down. When James left the Valkyrie he saw it was after nightfall, and that they were in a small clearing in a forest with bright red leaves. They must've landed during autumn. After admiring the scenery, James told the armsmen to start preparing a base for them to operate from. James then called over the Astarte and Sororita. Zora was already standing nearby, eager to be off in search of the natives.

"The Artisan is eager to find out more about the natives. In order to safely escort her to one of the cities, you two will accompany us while we search for one. We will head west and south. If we do not find a city in one day, we will return and head in the opposite direction. Understand?" After the Marine and Sister nodded affirmative, James took out his power cane and started walking in a direction. Looking back, he called out to them, "Bolters at the ready. Remember, we known nothing of possible hostiles on this planet." Readying their bolters, the Marine and Sister followed him. As if just realizing, James added, "Also, don't use the flamer; we don't want to burn down the forest." This saddened the Sister.

After three hours of hiking unmolested through the forest, they reached the city. After bluffing, or rather, intimidating their way past the city guards they were allowed into the city proper. They entered what appeared to be a commercial district, but few shops were open at such a late hour. Seeing something out of the corner of her eye, Zora turned to look. It was a shop called "From Dust Till Dawn." Figuring this was as good a place as any to start learning about the natives, she walked over. Noticing that Zora was leaving, James motioned for the others to follow. They had put their bolters up before entering the city, so as not to attract too much suspicion. James still had his power cane out, since it could be used unpowered as a regular cane. Upon seeing the shop Zora was headed to, James remarked, "An entire store dedicated to cleaning supplies?"

The Marine jokingly followed up with "The Marines Immaculate would like that. Filthy traitors." The last part was bitterly said under his breath. Running to catch up with Zora, he got to the shop quickly and entered before her. Right into the back of a group of men in black suits.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a dust shop open this late?" The leader of the black suits asked. James could see he was wearing a white suit and a bowler hat.

Incredulous, James asked of no one in particular, "Did we just walk in on a robbery?" James had seen many things during his time in the Inquisition, but walking in on a robbery, and one that was planned by a gang at that, was not one of them. The police were normally better at controlling crime than that. At least, they were in the upper hives, where he spent most of his time planetside. He didn't spend much time planetside. Not anymore. Hearing him, two of the black suits turned around and leveled their weapons at him. One had an odd-looking plasma gun. At least, that's what James assumed it was from the sound it made while charging up. The other black suit had a red khopesh-like sword.

Raising his hands, with his cane still in his right, James said "Now wait just a moment fellas, there's no need to be unreasonable-" It was at that time that a black suit came flying from the back of the store, through the plate glass window. Signaling to the two remaining black suits, the white coated man, mildly annoyed, commanded, "Get her!" At this point, James activated his cane, and hit the gun-wielding black suit's wrist. He was very careful not to hit the gun, lest the plasma cell detonate. That would not be fun for anyone inside the store. Pivoting to dodge the sword from the other black suit, James brought his cane around and delivered an Inquisitorial smack to the back of his head. The force of the blow, combined with the fact that it was, in fact, a power weapon he had been hit with, caused the man to crumple. At this point he noticed four things. First was that when the black suit flew the window, he had taken a little girl in a red cloak with him. The second, was that this girl had a scythe large enough for a Death Guard, third was that she could wield it as well as a Death Guard too, and lastly was the cane about to hit his unprotected head. Quickly scrambling out of the way, and through the open door, he noticed that neither Zora, the Astarte, nor the Sororita could be seen anywhere. Recovering, he retreated to where the red girl was standing, sizing up his opponent the whole time. Honestly, he didn't look like much, wearing a fancy coat and hat, but his smugness after seeing what the girl could do told James that he was a competent fighter, if an unarmored one.

"Well, Red, Pops, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening," to which James thought, _'_ _More than you'd realize_. _'_ Continuing, the man said, "And as much as I'd like to stick around," while raising his cane, "I'm afraid this, is where we part ways." A small targeting reticule popped up from the base of the man's cane.

"His cane's a gu-" James had started to exclaim, but was cut short when the burst the man shot at his feet exploded. Luckily, it was not a direct hit, but he still went flying. He landed on top of a building, his armor taking most of the damage. Still that would hurt in the morning. And the next few mornings. And right now too. Shaking his head to clear his vision he noticed that the man had climbed to the top of the building he was on, and the red girl had caught up. James hadn't realized he had been knocked out. He could remember flying up and landing, but at no point could he remember getting close to blacking out.

"Hey!" The red girl called out. The white man mumbled something and James picked himself off the roof. While he was doing so, a VTOL craft, not entirely unlike a standard Valkyrie, but smaller, with smoother edges, and gray instead of green rose from the street on the other side of the building. With its spotlight shining on the red girl, the craft opened its side door and the man climbed in and shouted "End of the line, Red!" The man held up a red crystal and threw it at her. Firing a shot at the crystal, the rooftop went up as if a melta bomb had be detonated. Still recovering from the blast, James noticed neither the maniacal laughter, nor the newcomer. After fully recovering, James noticed that the craft looked more damaged then it had before, and was wobbling in the air. He then noticed the woman with the purple cape standing in front of the red girl. Mag-locking his cane to his side, after unpowering it, of course, he unslung the lasgun. Before he could fire a shot, the purple woman did something warpy, and summoned a storm out of nowhere. James immediately thought to detain her, but discarded the idea. She must've been sanctioned in order to pull that off without turning into Daemon food. With a pull of her hand, the woman brought large icicles, each the size of James's forearm, down onto the craft. It shook dangerously, but did not fall. He stared as a woman in a fire-themed dress, wearing high heels, no less, calmly walked into view from the cockpit. She summoned warp fire and launched it at the purple woman, who blocked it with a purple colored ward. The roof beneath her started to glow and exploded, causing red hot shrapnel to go flying. Before the shrapnel could go anywhere, the purple woman brought it all together into a large, purple glowing spear. When the fire woman saw the spear coming for her she sent three quick burst of warp fire at it, splitting it apart. Almost instantly, the spear reformed and starting coming at the ship again. The short delay was all the white man, who was now the pilot, needed to turn the ship. When the spear hit the ship's roof, instead of penetrating, in deflected off and split into three separate streams. Before they could hit the ship, the fire woman sent out a ring of warp firing and disintegrated all of them. Pulling himself back into reality, he fired off a burst from the lasgun. The lasgun fired small blue balls of plasma, which while most certainly not what a lasgun was supposed to shoot, was perfectly normal for a pulse carbine disguised as a lasgun. At the same time, the red girl started shooting at the woman, with what, James had no idea, but she was shooting with something. The woman simply blocked all of the girl's shots, but she dodged James's, and James could see them burn right through the ship. The roof started glowing again, and James jumped to the side. Before he could get off another shot the ship flew away and out of range. He turned to the side to find the red girl quivering giddily while the purple cloaked woman stared angrily at her.


	2. Chapter 2

A Reasonable Crusade

Part I: Ex Tenebra Lux

Chapter II: Beginnings

James stared sullenly at the door in front of him. The "event" had happened only a few hours ago, but it was just the latest in a long string events that made his day "positively unpleasant" as Inquisitor Fob would have put it. First the Crusade Fleet he had been leading, as part of a plea deal between himself and Inquisitor Lord Damnos that would prevent the destruction of the Aprior Sector, had gotten stranded in the Warp. Then, the other ships suddenly disappeared, along with the Astronomican. When they dewarped, they found themselves above a pre-space human world that had, apparently, not been reached by the Imperium in the Great Crusade, or any subsequent Crusades. Then he learned that humanity was, for the most part, relegated to four cities in the entire world. By what, no one in the crew could have guessed. After all, they hadn't detected any Chaos taint in the world, nor were there traces of Xenos. The lack of Chaos taint was another problem. Surely in a world that produces such powerful pyskers often enough for the rooftop to happen, there would be some. Even Imperial sanctioning didn't completely seal off Warp taint. He had been completely blindsided by the gun-cane the white man had used, and later once again with the sheer amount of warpyness going on on the rooftop. And just to make things worse, Zora and- James started as he realized he didn't know the Astarte's name. Or that of the Sororita, for that matter. ' _I'll just have to ask them once I find them. Doesn't do to be on a strange world and not know the names of your companions.'_ James thought. _'_ _Well, anyways, they abandoned me, and I haven't heard from them since. Would it have killed them to at least have told me where they were?'_ Before James could continue mucking about, the door opened revealing an old man in a black suit, with a green undershirt. In all honesty, the man reminded James of a Necron. Reflexively, James fixed the man with an Inquisitorial stare. It didn't even seem to phase the man.

Taking a seat, the green man stated, "What you did was very dangerous. Not just to yourself, but to bystanders aswell," after taking a sip of what looked like recaff, the green man continued, "Now, it is very noble that you were willing to endanger yourself to protect others. The exemplification of all it means to be a Huntsman. However, if your friends had not been on crowd control, collateral damage might have been more than just some damaged buildings."

"What friends?" James asked flatly, before the green man could continue.

"A very big armored man, and two women, one of who had red robes," came the green man's reply.

"So that's where they were. It would have been nice for them to have told me, but I thank you for informing me of what they were doing."

"In case you were wondering, I have already talked to the girl," James had not been wondering, but signaled for the green man to continue anyways. "She has agreed to come to my school two years early. I extend the same offer to you, though you would probably come as a professor. You are a bit old to be a student, after all." James considered the green man's proposal. Going to the local schola would help him learn of the local planet. On the other hand, he could teach nothing that was relevant to this planet.

"I'm afraid I'll have to decline. I don't know what I would teach. I'm a fighter, I only know combat."

"Then you can take over the combat courses. It is a Huntsman Academy, after all. Besides, the current professor for those classes is a bit overwhelmed with other duties. Freeing her from classes would help."

A little surprised that a school, no, Huntsman Academy, as the green man put it, would have combat courses, James stood up and stretched his hand out. "Then I'll accept. My name is James Fletcher, by the way."

Accepting his hand, the green man stood up and shook it. "Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy."

* * *

James was now riding on a "bullhead" as the natives called it. It was a transport craft, obviously civilian, due to the great glass walls and distinct lack of defensive weapons. James was looking out the window at the landscape. It was breathtaking. Truly, this would be a paradise world, if it were not for those "Grimm" creatures he had recently learned about. When he had returned to the landing zone, he had found that the armsmen on the ground had voxxed the ship for back up after a large bear-like creature had attacked. He had had to ask Ozpin what it was, and after explaining to Ozpin that no, he was not trying to trick him, and that yes, he really was from space, and that yes, he was human, and eventually taking Ozpin up to _Black Rose_ , as James called the ship, he had finally gotten an explanation. It appeared that these "Grimm" were some kind of daemon, but that didn't make much since, since daemons would definitely register Warp taint, and usually had organs and blood and mushy red, green, blue, or purple stuff inside. All these Grimm had inside was solid redness. After that sorting that mess out, James managed to convince Ozpin that he should be the one to announce the existence of the Imperium. It would take a while though, since the tech-priests had to develop a vox-caster that would be compatible with the Dust powered communications of Remnant. Until then, they decided to say that James was merely from a faraway place, but would not deny the truth if asked.

The Bullhead was now getting ready to land at Beacon. He could see Brother Alfredus, a Silencer from the Nullarium, as he had learned, and Sister Marion waiting at the landing site. On each window a video started playing. It was the purple woman from the rooftop. In the video she introduced herself as Glynda Goodwitch. The video was an introduction to Beacon video for the students. When the bullhead docked people started running off. Whether out of excitement at being at such a prestigious academy, or out of desire to be away from the scary scull man, James could not say. Well, for the kid at the trashcan he could. Today he had opted to make an impression and had worn his evil goon costume and hat. When he exited the craft, the wind lifted the broad brim and tossed his cloak to the side, giving James quite a striking figure. As he strode down the ramp with his cane unpowered, he heard a small voice behind him. Turning around, he saw that it was that it was the red girl he had attempted to stop a robbery with.

The girl let out a nervous "Eep!" as James fixed her with an Inquisitorial scowl. Nervously, the girl proceeded, "I-I j-just noticed th-that you were the man who h-helped me f-fight Torchwick th-the other d-day."

Slowly turning his scowl to a comforting smile, James said, "Why, yes I am. I don't think I got your name then, little red." The smile helped to restore the girl's confidence, though it was contrasted by the skull pins holding his cloak to his armor and the large skull set in the =][= on his hat.

"It's Ruby. Ruby Rose," the little girl, now known to James as Ruby, got out.

"Thank you, Miss Rose. I expect I will be seeing a lot of you in class." With that, James turned heel and walked over to Alfredus and Marion.

"Where is Zora? I thought she would be here," James asked.

"She is at the schola's Forge. She was too excited examining the equipment and told us to go without her," Sister Marion replied. If James had to put her accent down as anything, it would be Cadian. And with her color eyes, she could be Cadian if James didn't know better. James took out his scroll, issued to him by Ozpin until he could get his vox to work with the CCTS, to find his dorm. He had been assigned to one of the teacher's dorms, meaning he'd have it to himself. He and Zora had been the only ones to officially sign on, and since Zora was a tech-priestess and spent most of her time in the Forge, James was the only one out of the four to have a dorm. Alfredus and Marion lived at the base the armsmen made when they had first landed, since it turned out to not be far at all from the campus.

"Very well. I don't expect the rest of my gear to be arriving until later today by Valkyrie, so you two are dismissed." When the two turned to leave, James went to find his dorm. It was time to take off the stupid hat and costume. Following the scroll's map, James found his room easily enough. Taking off his evil goon costume and folding it away neatly, he surveyed the room. It was small, with one bed, a window, and a dresser, but it was big enough for him. Placing his uniform into the top drawer, he hung his "hey-look-at-me-I'm-in-the-Inquisition!" hat on a peg and laid his weapons on the bed. He took the bolt pistol and mag-locked it to his side. He never went anywhere without it, and it's weight was comforting. Then he took his lasgun and propped it up beside the dresser. The power saber he left on top of the drawer and took his power cane in hand. He had nothing else to unpack, as the rest of his gear would not come in until later. Striding out the door, he locked it and started down the hallway. Nothing would be happening with him until tomorrow, when he would help oversee the initiation activity. Taking advantage of his free time, James decided to scout out the campus. It was still fairly early in the morning so lunch would not be for a while. At that moment, James heard a voice that was starting to become too familiar.

"What is it, Miss Rose?" James asked tiredly. The little girl was starting to become a little annoying.

Hurriedly, Ruby spat out, "Well,it'sjustthatyou'reourcombatprofessor,soIwaswonderingifyoucould-" Holding up a hand James stopped her.

"Speak slower. I can hardly understand you."

Taking a deep breath, Ruby started over, slower, "Well, since you're the combat professor I was thinking that meant that you would have a cool weapon, so I was wondering if you could please show it to me?" James stared at her. This little girl came up to him to ask him about his weapon? _She's just a little girl, what could go wrong?_ James thought as he grabbed his bolt pistol. Handing it over for the girl to examine, James noticed that her pupils dilated in pleasure. "It's so big!" Ruby exclaimed, "I've never seen one this size before!" Ruby cradled the pistol that was the size of her head in her hands. "What is it? What does it shoot? Doesn't it hurt to fire? What did you name it?" Ruby asked excitedly, jumping from foot to foot.

"Slow down, Miss Rose. One question at a time from now on," James said, not putting a dent in the hyperactive technophile's demeanor, "It is a bolt pistol. It fires .75 caliber mass-reactive rounds-" eliciting an "ooh" from Ruby, "-meaning it fires a very large bullet, then explodes after entering the target. As for whether it hurt to fire, the recoil would dislocate my shoulder in one shot without my armor." Taking the pistol back from Ruby, James noticed how much her attitude changed. "And what do you mean 'What did I name it?' Nobody names their weapons."

Surprised by his answer, Ruby, back to her normal, if normal could ever describe her, self said, "Everyone names their weapons. Take my sweetheart," Ruby said, pulling out the big scythe James had seen her use earlier, "Crescent Rose. If you don't name your weapon, then its not really yours!"

Considering this, James said, "Alright then, I think I'll call it Rose's Thorns."

Slightly creeped out, Ruby asked, "You're naming it after me?"

Shaking his head, James replied, "No. For as long as anyone can remember, my family's signet has been a white rose intertwined with a red rose. No one knows where it comes from, or what it means."

Seemingly unsure of his explanation, Ruby shook it off. "Well, I'll be going now, off to meet new friends and all that-" Ruby began, before being interrupted by James.

"I think I know someone who might want to meet you. Just follow me to the Forge. Oh, and be warned, she might come off as a little creepy for those unused to her kind." With that, James set off in search of Zora, with a curious Ruby following close behind, wondering what exactly James meant with the "her kind" comment.


	3. Chapter 3

**=][= Sorry I haven't replied to reviews earlier. I had to change some settings in order to see them. =][=**

A Reasonable Crusade

Part I: Ex Tenebra Lux

Chapter III: Endings

Entering the Forge, James found Zora rather quickly, mostly because she was the only one in there. Zora was wearing examining a piece of equipment when he entered.

"Ah yes," came the synthetic voice, "finally someone to explain how all this equipment works. I've been trying to find out since I got here, but all I've found out is that this completely different than most of my tech," turning around, Zora saw it was James who had entered. "Ah, James, it's you," Zora said, stating the obvious. Noticing the little girl coming in behind James, she asked, "Hello, who are you?"

Ruby, somewhat shocked by Zora's appearance, managed to stammer out, "H-Hi, I'm Ruby Rose." Turning her head to look at James, Zora's yellow eyelights flatten into two bars to convey annoyance.

"You didn't tell her about me?" Zora asked.

"I told her that you might be unsettling for people unused to being around your order."

Turning to look back at Ruby, Zora's eyelights reverted to oval, with their bottoms turned up to signify happiness. "Well, it was nice to meet you, Miss Rose. I am Artisan Zora of the Adeptus Mechanicus."

"Who the what now?"

Looking back at James, with the tops of her eyelight turning down, Zora stated, "You really didn't tell her anything, did you?" After seeing James shook his head. Zora turned back to Ruby, eyelights back to their "happy" mode. "I will be happy to answer any questions you may have about me, the Mechanicus, or any other subject to the best of my ability, as long as you help me understand how this technology works."

With a snort, Ruby pointed to somewhere on the device. "Oh it's simple. Just-" Seeing that Ruby and Zora were getting along well, James took his leave of the room. And ran into a Cadian-looking girl he had noticed with Ruby earlier.

"What were you doing in there with my sister?" the lilac-eyed girl growled.

Fixing the girl with an Inquisitorial stare, James simply stated, "I was just introducing her to my friend." A sound that could have been laughing or crying drifted through the door. The girl's face visibly reddened with anger, including her irises, and she shoved James out of the way. Or, it seemed she did, in reality, James stepped aside as she put her hand on his armor. "They're kind of busy in there-" James began, but was interrupted by the girl.

"I swear, if you've hurt my baby sister at all, I will end you!" the girl, apparently Ruby's sister, said icily, while yanking open the door. James noticed that it leaning slightly now.

"Oh, hey Yang!" Ruby called out to her sister. "I was just showing Zora here how t-Yang, why are you angry?"

Glaring at James, Yang answered, "The professor here had some very bad phrasing."

"Yang, you don't have to worry about me. I can take care of myself, you know."

"Aw, Ruby, don't you know? It's a big sister's job to be overprotective of their baby sister!" Yang said, as cheerfully crushing Ruby is a hug. "But my threat still stands, professor," she finished, all the anger coming back into her voice. With a shrug, James turned and left.

As James was walking away his vox buzzed. "What is it, helmsman?" James asked.

"M-my Lord! We have received a message from Holy Terra! From the Imperial Palace itself!" came the helmsman's reply.

"Well, what's the message?"

"The Inquisition! It's been disbanded! By order of God-Emperor himself!"

James stumbled at the news, dropping his cane. "Is this true?" he asked, in a quiet voice.

"I'm afraid so, my Lord. It bears the God-Emperor's seal. No forgery could be made with such accuracy."

"Show the order to me when my stuff gets here." Signing off before the helmsman could reply, James bent down and picked up his power cane. Considering the meaning of such a message, he walked. He was still thinking on the message when he walked into the cafeteria for lunch. He took his food and ate it absentmindedly. The lack of alcohol and good tanna didn't help, so he had settled on water. It was an okay meal, not as good as what he usually ate planet side, but certainly better than ship's mess and soylens viridiens. Not by much, though. James reached a decision as he was putting his tray away. The decision was, oddly enough, the disbanding of the Inquisition just wasn't high enough of a priority to worry about. He still had to worry about bringing this world into the Imperium, getting back to Imperial space without the Astronomican, and finding the rest of the Crusade fleet. But, one problem at a time, and right now, the most pressing was bringing Remnant into the Imperium. Firmly putting the problem of the Inquisition into his mental "Deal with it some other time" folder, James decided to walk around before the Valkyrie with the rest of his stuff arrived. Picking a direction, he set off. As he wandered through the school ground, he admired the scenery and architecture. If not gothic, it was still impressive, especially for a less advanced planet such as this one. Of course, being ex-Guard, he couldn't help but notice where the schola was lacking in defenses. Which, unfortunately, was just about everywhere. Not even a single anti-air emplacement. He would have to talk to Ozpin about that. After some time he found himself in the schola's librarium. He rooted around in the history section and found a book that might be useful. Taking it out, he brought it to the landing pad and began to read from the beginning. It was a book detailing the history of Remnant, which he would need to know if he were to bring them into the Imperium.

Eventually, James heard the familiar sound of a Valkyrie landing. Looking up from the book, James saw the payload doors opening to reveal Alfredus, recognizable by the markings on his armor, and Marion. Behind them were crates stamped with an =][= bordered by a white and a red rose, James's Inquisitorial Rosette. Next to them was a scaled down assault bike, painted red for the extra speed with a silhouetted version of James's rosette. Leaning on the bike was James's power lance. He smiled at the memories the pair recalled. He had gotten them while on assignment to the White Scars, on loan from Oak to an extremist Monodominant who had been looking for an excuse to purge the entire chapter. Something about "only Slaaneshis would be that obsessed with speed" or something. Using a cargo servitor, James had all of the boxes brought to his dorm while he parked his bike, _Khan's Wrath_ , in the teacher's garage. After leaving the bike under lock and key, James headed back to his dorm to unpack. Once there, he began to pry the lids off crates and unpack them. One crate held all his clothes, which he neatly transferred into the dresser. Another held supplies, such as a tannapot, a mug, parchment and self-inking quills. Opening the third crate, James began to place the pulse magazines, converted to look like lasgun powerpacks, into an ammunition safe built into the dresser. Into the ammunition safe went the bolt rounds as well, and the most of the frag grenades that were in the crate. He left two frags on his waist. When dinner time came around, James opened the last and final crate. Inside were bags full of dark, dried leaves. Taking his mug, James walked down to the cafeteria. Once he had his food, he poured water from the tank labelled "hot water" into the mug. As soon as the water touched the leaves, it began to darken, and a sweet aroma lifted up to greet him. At the teacher's table, James sat down and ate his food. The table was empty, as most teachers preferred to eat elsewhere. The table was really no more than a token. The tanna was almost pitch black before James took a sip.

" _Ah, Earl Grey. One of the few Old Terran varieties to survive, and for good reason"_ came the thought when James tasted the black liquid.

* * *

James sat idling on his assault bike. Ozpin was going through how teams were to be selected, and how the initiation would be handled. _"_ _That Jean kid seems to be behaving a similar reaction to mine last night when Ozpin first told me about how initiation works. At least I won't be going through it. Then again, he didn't have the assurance that no student had died from the launch part of initiation. Yet."_ At that moment, the kid James had dubbed "Jean" was launched from his pad.

"That kid's fucked," James stated matter of factually, as Jean's screaming steadily grew fainter.

"I agree. I don't care what his transcripts say; he is not ready for this level of combat," Glynda added. Ozpin's only response was a knowing smug growing on his face, which he kept hidden by taking a sip from his mug. After a few moments of silence, James spoke up again.

"So, what exactly did you want here for Headmaster? It seems you and Professor Goodwitch have things handled."

"In truth, we brought you with us so we could ask for a weapons demonstration," Ozpin began, "The reason we didn't just leave you at Beacon was so that we wouldn't have to go back and fetch you."

"Well, where am I supposed to do this 'weapon demo?"

"Here"

"Here? But there's no targets."

"Sure there are, Mr. Fletcher. In fact, they're climbing up the cliff now." Sure enough, just as Ozpin said, when James looked back towards the edge of the cliff he could see black limbs climbing up it. "Remember, we would like to see how all of your weapons work." Ozpin said as he turned around and began walking away. Not really knowing what to expect from these Grimm, James took his bolt pistol in his right hand and dismounted the bike. When the creature showed its head, which reminded James of a wolf, James *BLAM*'d it. The bolt went right through the creature's face mask and detonated inside. The head exploded into a fine black mist, sending bits of bone plate flying, evaporating as they flew. James repeated the action as the wolf things appeared, until the pistol's magazine ran out. Once he was out of bolt rounds, James locked the pistol to his side and unslung the lasgun from his back. More of the wolf creatures were climbing up now, and bigger ones too. With a squeeze of the trigger, James sent a small blue ball of energy through each. The plasma burned through each of them, leaving smoking corpses with slight more smoky holes in each. Even as James butchered the wolves, more kept coming. Soon, James had to open up on full auto just to keep them away, and even this was not enough. A Grimm pounced at James, and he lifted the front of his lasgun at it. The creature crashed right on top of the bayonet, and James unloaded the last shot in the power cell into it. With a cry of "Chwała Jadwiga!" James drew his slightly curved saber and powered it. A pig-like Grimm charged him, and James met it with a strike from his saber. The power weapon clove right the beast's head, bisecting it from snout to shoulder. Spinning around to counter another Grimm, James kept up with the multitude of beasts and slaughtered them. If their bodies didn't dissolve, the resulting corpses would have made a feast fit for an Astartes chapter. After striking down the last Grimm, this one formerly a bear-like creature, James turned back to Ozpin and asked "Happy?"

"I said I wanted to see all of your weapons."

"Too bad. Perhaps you'll get another chance later."

With a wave of his hand, Ozpin merely said, "Please try to be respectful. I am your boss, after all. Our next job is to collect the students as they return."

* * *

"-will form team RWBY, lead by Ruby Rose," Ozpin finished. James tuned out the rest of what Ozpin was saying. It wasn't relevant to him. He had been forced into joining one of the Hunter Teams earlier. Luckily, he already knew the three others who had been assigned to his team. Together with Alfredus, Marion, and Zora, he made Team JAMZ, of which he was the eponymous leader, despite the validity of the orders received from Terra. Which was a problem, but not very concerning. Once the students were dismissed, James left to head back to his room. He had to plan out the lessons for tomorrow, which James decided would begin with the students sparring in order for James to estimate how skilled each of them was. However, after that, James was unsure where to go.


	4. Chapter 4

**=][= Before anyone else asks, here is a short list of people I am not:**

 **LongPoster**

 **Not LongPoster**

 **Not Not LongPoster** **=][=**

A Reasonable Crusade

Part I: Ex Tenebra Lux

Chapter IV: Revelations

James frowned as he took a sip of tanna. The ex-Inquisitor had questioned Ozpin yesterday to find out if there were any unexpected surprises the students would have in store. James hadn't thought that there would be, but it was always smart to take precautions. Which was why Sister Marion was watching the students with him. For millennia, the Aprior Sector had no branches of the Order Hospitaller within its boundaries, due to the Warp Storms cutting it off from the rest of the Imperium. So, instead of creating a brand new Order Hospitaller of their own, the Apriori Sisters had decided to train their own members in medicae, with certain members being effectively field medics and receiving more extensive training. Sister Marion had been one of the medicae specialists recently trained by the Sisters. However, it was likely that her skill would not be needed. According to what Ozpin told him, each of the students had an Aura, which worked as a shield to protect their bodies from harm. This Aura also granted each person a Semblance that was unique to them. There were a few exceptions of course, such as the Schnee girl's glyphs. The whole mess seemed straight out of the Tau-vid series _FioFio's Bizarre Adventure_ that one of the Apriori tech-priests had shown him. It was almost as disturbing as the Tau-vid series about that group of Guardsmen working for Oak. _At least there's no warpy gender-swapping_ James thought, recalling the image of a Dark Eldar Wych turning the group's techie into a young girl. The bell rang, and James called the fight. As students were leaving James said, "Miss Belladonna, Miss Long, please see me after classes today." Leaving them and their team to wonder what James wanted them for, he turned back to his tanna.

His whole day went on like that. Watching children fight each other and listing their abilities. So far, he figured out that Ruby and Blake had a teleportation Semblance, Weiss had her Glyphs, and that Pyrrha had a telekinesis Semblance. He hadn't seen enough to figure out what the other students' abilities were.

* * *

After James had finished pouring himself a new cup of tanna, he heard the door open. In came Blake and Yang, worry written all over their faces. Motioning from the two girls to sit down, James said "You two are probably wondering why I asked you here." Before the girls could respond, James continued, "Let me assure you, you two are not in any trouble. The matter I've asked you here on actually concerns your other two team mates."

"Oh. Well, what about them?" Blake asked softly. James noticed that her bow seemed to relax as she realized she was not in trouble.

"Something seems off with Miss Rose and Miss Schnee. Since you two are their team mates, I was wondering if you had any idea about what's going on."

"Well, as far as I can tell, Weiss seems to be jealous of Ruby," Blake explained.

"Yeah, which is odd, since everyone usually finds her adorable," Yang added, "I just don't know why Weiss would be jealous of Ruby."

"Are you sure of that? Can you two imagine any reason Weiss would be jealous of Ruby? Any reason at all?" James asked, taking a drink from his mug.

"That's the problem. I can't imagine why Weiss would be jealous of Ruby. She's had some of the best training and is the heiress of- oh. That's it," Blake realized. "Weiss has been preparing to come to Beacon for a long time. Not only that, but with her position as the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company she surely expected to become team leader."

"So when Ozpin chose my sister instead of her," Yang continued, "she must've been really upset." Nodding in satisfaction, James took another sip of tanna.

"Thank you for helping us figure it out professor, but why did you call us here? I'm sure we would've figured it out eventually," Blake asked.

"I said I asked you here so that you could enlighten me on the situation. Now, I have a an assignment for you. Tell me how their relationship is going. If it doesn't get better in a few days, I want you to try to help them. Jealousy of the position of one's superiors is a perfect recipe for disaster. It's actually how the Imperium got to the state it is now. You two are dismissed."

The girls got up, assured James that they would do their best and left. James sighed. The people here were too focused on the individual. That was probably the biggest reason why Humans were so endangered on this planet. They just couldn't come together and work together properly. Then again, neither could the Imperium. Sure, they worked excellently at the regimental level, but competition between higher ups kept every one divided. James got up and left, heading back to his room. Sister Marion had left earlier, a bit before Miss Belladonna and Miss Long had appeared. It was time to let everyone else do their parts while he partook in every Guardsman's favorite activity.

* * *

James woke up. He went through his morning routine of weapons maintenance, prayer to the God-Emperor, although lately he could almost hear a response saying "I'm not a fucking God, myself-damnit!" and standard hygiene. Once he was done, James put on his armor, and grabbed his weapons. It was still early in the morning; most students wouldn't be getting up for another few hours. It had been a few days since he had called Blake and Yang into his office. After that day, Yang and Blake had noticed that there seemed to be less animosity between Ruby and Weiss. In fact, it appeared that there was almost none at all. However, something was still troubling James. Over the last few days, James noticed that Blake's bow seemed to move to reflect her mood. _"_ _Almost like wolf ears. What if she's a lupine abhuman?"_ James thought, recalling the existence of the Wulfen. _"_ _She could be useful, especially if she has enhanced hearing"._ Now resolved to uncover why her bow seemed to be hiding wolf ears, James walked to his class room.

"Alright, class. Today we will be sparring again," James said, eliciting groans from a few students. James fixed each of the students who had made a noise with a stare to make a Kroot run. He was pretty sure one of them started crying silently. "This time, you will be fighting with a randomly selected team against another randomly selected team." Watching the fights, James made note of each student's fighting style. When Blake was selected to fight, James scrutinized her much more so than the other battles. He wasn't really paying attention to how the students were fighting, but to Blake's bow, looking for evidence to confirm his suspicion that Blake was, in fact, a wolf-girl. James did notice that the bow stood up, even when Blake was running, as if it was supported by something. Once the spar was over, the students went back to their seats. Before Blake could sit down, James said, "Miss Belladonna, please see me after classes today." Pleased with how her bow seemed to stiffen, James said to Yang, "It won't be necessary for you to come too, Miss Long." The bell rang before Yang could reply.

All day, the classes were the same, with little variation between any of them. None of them were very interesting either. The most exciting thing that had happened that day was during lunch, when the hot water tank ran out. James ended up drinking water instead of tanna that lunch. When classes were finally over, James was so bored he considered taking his assault bike out for a ride. Before he could give the idea more than a second of consideration, the door opened to reveal Blake Belladonna.

"Thank you for coming, Miss Belladonna. Please lock the door behind you." Blake locked the door as she closed it and calmly walked up to James. "Have a seat. Would you like some tanna?"

"Yes please." Blake sat as James grabbed a spare mug and put a tanna bag in it. Placing it on the table in front of Blake, he started to pour hot water on top. Thanking him for the tanna, Blake took a long sip.

While she was drinking, James said, "I know your secret."

"How?" Blake managed to splutter after doing a spit take and lots of coughing.

"Your bow moves. I figured it meant you had something beneath it."

"Well, please don't tell anyone. Not even my team."

"It is not good to keep secrets from your team. Secrets are always found out. When they are found out, trust is destroyed. A team cannot function without trust." James's face hardened.

"I know. I just-" Blake paused. "I just want to be seen for who I am, not what I am."

"That is reasonable. At least consider it."

"I will."

Nodding, James spoke, "You may go now."

After Blake left James thought about how her existence had made his job just a little more complicated. He could put a bolt in her head and be done with it, but her existence meant there were probably more. There was also the problem that just killing her would be wasting the Emperor's currency. If life is the Emperor's currency, then all life is the Emperor's currency. As James was about to leave, he received a message on his Scroll.

"What is it, Zora?"

"We've done it!" Zora exclaimed excitedly. "We've managed to create a modified vox-caster than will work with Remnant tech!"

"This is great. I'll be down there shortly." With that, James grabbed his stuff and hurriedly walked out of the room. As he walked down the halls, students noticed he seemed to be excited about something. They had never seen him excited before, in fact, many thought that he couldn't become excited. They thought he could only be angry or bored. Scared at the thought of Professor Fletcher being excited about something, most students thought they wanted to be as far as possible from whatever it was that was exciting him. Most, but not all. For three students, their curiosity got the better of them. James was aware of the three students following him, but figured there was no harm in letting them follow. After all, if what Zora said was true, then they would've found out soon enough anyways. When he walked into the Forge, he was greeted by four faces. Well, two faces and two red hoods. The three following him snuck into the room behind him.

"Does it really work?" James asked.

"Sir, you've been followed. Should we-"

"I know. I saw them," at that, the three stiffened, "They'd have found out the truth soon anyways. I mean, we can't exactly annex a planet without the planet finding out," The shorter red hood moved to the three students who had followed James and motioned for them to accompany her.

"Does it work?" James asked again.

"Oh yes. And I would not have been able to get it working so soon without the Ruby girl. She would make an excellent tech-priestess." The outsides of Zora's eyelights sloped down. "Although she does seem to be a little to obsessed with weapons. Perhaps the Skitarius would be better for her." James agreed with her assessment, especially with the information that she had helped build the Dust-vox converter, but now was not the time for idle chatter.

"Now, let us get back to the ship. We have some planning to do before we make the announcement." Voxxing the ship to let them know the plan, and so that they could send a Valkyrie down to pick them up, James led the group through Beacon. Their path was not as clear of students as last time, and the few students who got caught inside Alfredus's null aura stared as they backed away. Well, the ones not reduced to vomiting did. Once the Valkyrie Repressor landed they walked inside. The ride up to the ship was silent except for the creaking and groaning noises made by the ship as it climbed. Once back onboard the _Black Rose_ , James, the Marines' Sergeant, and the Sister Superior started talking to form a plan on how to deal with the Kingdoms after making the announcement, while Zora went off to install the converter on the ship's short-range vox. The plan they came up with when the vox was ready was to send a Sister, each an Order of Reason's Light's equivalent of an Order Famulous sister. Accompanying the Sister would be a fire team of Astartes, numbering six each. The Vale representative would only have five, but could call on Alfredus whenever she needed.

The vox-caster was outfitted with the Dust converter Zora and Ruby had rigged up, and would broadcast, using the CCTS Towers each city had, to every device in range that could pick up a signal from the CCTS an unblockable message. It would transmit on every frequency, except emergency frequencies, to ensure that almost everybody on the planet would receive the message.

At the comm desk, James began transmitting and said, "Attention people of Remnant. Welcome, to the Imperium of Man!"


	5. Chapter 5

**=][= I thought it would've been implied that James guessed the Semblances wrong. Apparently not. I assure you all that I do know what their Semblances are, and I would like to remind everyone that his eyesight is only as good as anyone else's. He is not a Space Marine, even if he is more perceptive than most. He is an Inquisitor. He can still be wrong =][=**

A Reasonable Crusade

Part I: Ex Tenebra Lux

Chapter V: Reactions

Cegorach laughed. It was the laughter of a mad God and it echoed throughout the Black Library.

"You're such a dick," a baritone voice stated.

"Oh, lighten up, Goldy, I just got you a new planet. You should be thanking me." Turning around, Cegorach saw the Emperor's psychic presence move towards him.

"What you did was throw a Inquisitor Lord, one of the few ones that wasn't complete shit, into an alternate reality. It was by mere chance that his ship came out over a planet."

"A planet which he has claimed in your name."

"That is irrelevant. You did not know that is what he would do. Besides, it is a shitty planet, who's only notable resources are water, dirt, and an energy source that can't even be used off world."

"You're no fun," Cegorach retorted.

With a "hmmph," the Emperor pointed out, "At least it was not my race who literally fucked a brand new Chaos God into existence."

"Wow. I can see why they call you Anathema."

"Please shut up. This is the second time you've stolen my shit."

Raising an eyebrow and laughing, Cegorach asked smugly, "Oh? And what was the first time?"

"Remember Sigmar?"

"Yes, and he's doing much better than you."

"It's not my fault Fucking Horus had daddy issues."

"As his father it is your fault."

"It is not. It's the Four's fault."

"Whatever, Goldy."

"Whatever, Dick."

* * *

"Just as planned," muttered the manipulative mollusk as he looked through the Warp portal. The Anathema's slave had just made his announcement. Tzeentch had already known what would be in the announcement. He knew everything, after all. "What will the next part of our plan be?"

"I think we should show the people of Remnant how much we love them," rumbled Nurgle, "Isha and I-"

"No, just you," Isha interrupted.

"-have created a brand new disease. I just know they'll love this one."

"I agree with Nurgle," Slaanesh moaned, "Although, I had a different kind of 'love' in mind." Slaanesh giggled seductively.

"Shut the fuck up, you disgusting Eldar whore!" Khorne raged, "All you ever do is make disgusting innuendos!"

"Why don't you come over here and make me, big boy?" Slaanesh moaned, putting slight emphasis on the word "come." With a cry of rage, Khorne revved his chainaxe and chased Slaanesh away into the Warp. Nurgle sighed.

"Why do they always do that? Why can't they just love each other?"

"I don't know," Tzeentch lied. "I suppose we should adjourn this meeting until Bloodyaxe McMurderface and the nymphomaniacal druggie get back?"

"I don't know, I find it much more pleasant without her," Isha stated.

"We all do. None of us like her, dear," Nurgle replied, "but we have to wait for her to get back, or else this won't be Chaos Undivided."

"Why don't you just kick her out?" Isha asked.

"Because our only other choices are the Anathema, Cegorach, and Malice, none of who like us very much." Tzeentch replied.

* * *

Adam Taurus had been surprised that Humans existed elsewhere in the galaxy. However, he wasn't surprised that they were still racist. They even named their empire after their race. Humans were all the same. Not like Faunus at all. No matter. It changed his plans very little. As Adam was thinking, a White Fang member pushed open the tent flap.

"Sir, the contact wishes to speak with you."

Growling, Adam asked, "Well, what does he want?"

"I'll tell you want I want," said Torchwick as he roughly pushed the Fang member aside, "And it has to do with our little friend from space."

Adam forced a smile. As much as he hated Torchwick, they were forced to work together for the time being. They had, after all, both been press-ganged into Cinder's plan to take down all that the Kingdoms stood for. Now, it was likely they would be fighting to tear down this "Imperium of Man."

* * *

Ruby lead the girls out of the Forge. She had a lot of explaining to do. However, before she could begin any of it, Weiss rounded on her and stated angrily, "So this is what you've been doing in your free time! It would have been nice for you, as our team leader, to at least let us know what you've been doing!"

"But-"

"Weiss has a point, sis. You should have told us. It's not like you were sworn to secrecy."

"Actually, I kind of was. Artisan Zora said that it was important that their true identities not be revealed."

"What do you mean 'true identities?" Blake asked, wondering if they were White Fang in disguise. It would explain the three's bulky armor and Zora's all-concealing robes. Her robes were a little reminiscent of White Fang robes.

"Well, according to Zora they're not from Remnant."

"So she claims she's an alien?" Yang asked.

"Not quite. She says she was human."

"So let me get this straight," Weiss began, "Professor Zora claims that she's from a different world, but that she's still human? And what do you mean 'was?'"

"Her religion required her to replace most of her body with metal bits. It sounds really cool,"

"You believed her? No, its not cool!" Weiss was furious. Her team leader was just so mindbogglingly infuriating.

"I-"

"You're so stupid Ruby! Don't you know that Dust doesn't work in space?"

"But-"

"Ahbubbup! I don't want to hear it!" Weiss stormed off.

"But she showed me the ship." Ruby muttered dejectedly. Blake heard, her eyes going wide and her bow going back. She didn't say anything though, and followed after Weiss.

They were in their dorms a few hours later when they each received a call. Getting their scrolls, they saw Professor James wearing his power armor. He wasn't wearing the cloak or hat he had worn on the first day. It was the same video on each of their scrolls. Noticing this, Weiss, Blake, and Yang put their scrolls away and watched the video over Ruby's shoulder.

The image spoke, "Attention, people of Remnant. Welcome, to the Imperium of Man!"

"I told you Weiss! I told you!" Ruby screamed. Ignoring the excited girl, the message continued.

"I will be sending representatives to each of your Kingdoms. They will explain to your leaders in greater detail what it means to be part of the Imperium of Man than I will here."

 _'What a hypocrite!'_ Blake thought. ' _He told me to not hide my race from my teammates when he hid the fact that he was from space!'_

"Just know that the future you are being brought into is not a bright one. Humanity, at the verge of extinction, is besieged on all sides. In the grim darkness of the galaxy, there is only war, and what we do, we do for the good of Humanity."

Team RWBY stared at Ruby's scroll. Thoughts were racing through each of their heads, echoed by hundreds across the planet.

 _'Humanity_ …at _the verge of extinction?'_ Weiss thought. _'_ _Even spread through the galaxy, the Grimm have almost destroyed us_. _'_

 _'His country's called the 'Imperium of Man.' That sounds pretty racist. But he didn't seem too racist when we talked. He even seemed to accept me as I am. What will this mean for the Faunus?'_ Blake wondered.

 _'Humanity's at the verge of extinction, eh?'_ Yang's train of thought, almost mirroring Weiss's. ' _There better be some good-looking boys out there so I can help 'bring Humanity back from extinction,' if I know what I mean. And if, for some reason, that doesn't work, I can always punch Humanity away from extinction.'_ That part was different from Weiss's.

 _'What? When Zora spoke of the galaxy she seemed to be full of hope! She never mentioned this!'_ Ruby thought. ' _She always seemed so happy! But how could she be, if she knew the situation Humanity was in?'_ Ruby resolved to continue in her dream, no longer with just Remnant in mind, but the entire galaxy as well.

* * *

Ozpin frowned. When they had met, James had told him a little about where he was from. Truth be told, it was not very much. Only that they were fighting a war against enemies within, without, and beyond. James had also told him that he was part of a secret group tasked with dealing with these threats, and that he and others like him specialized in the Enemy Without. However, James had not told him much about the country he worked for. He never mentioned what it was called, or that it was apparently racist. Ozpin was only guessing that the Imperium of Man was racist from the fact that that was what they called themselves. He would have to have a talk with James about that. It wouldn't do to have a racist teacher. That could ruin Beacon's reputation.

"What do you think about this, Glynda?"

"Did you know he wasn't from Remnant?"

"Yes, although I did not know how much beyond that," Ozpin said, "I certainly did not know how racist his Imperium appeared to be."

"Would you have let him work here if you had?"

"I'm," Ozpin paused. "Not sure. He did fight against that woman."

"Without knowing what we know. He might have just been trying to stop a robber from escaping."

"Do you think he would've fought her if he had?"

After thinking for a short while, Glynda replied, "Honestly, no. I don't think he would've. But if it is because he would agree with her or if he would be afraid of her I can't say for certain, though I do lean towards the latter."

"Hmm," Ozpin's face grew thoughtful. "Perhaps we should bring him into the circle."

"What? You can't seriously! We don't know anything about him! This could all be a ruse by the Queen for all we know!"

"He is part of a similar group where he's from."

"If he is, I'm sure he's busy with that group's business."

"Alright. But we should ask him anyways."

"No. We need to keep an eye on him."

* * *

General James Ironwood was displeased with what he saw. This Imperium of Man came to his planet and was trying to annex it? And they just assumed that no one would put up a fight? Ironwood shook his head. No, he would not let his beloved Atlas kneel to a group that was essentially a Human version of the White Fang. Not while he lived. The man had said they were fighting wars on all sides, and that they were on the verge of extinction. Surely that meant that they could not spare troops to conquer a world. Those troops would be needed elsewhere. And if they were denied a foothold on the planet, then it would be harder to take the planet. He had to contact the other Kingdoms to see to the creation of an alliance to resist the Imperium's attempt to annex Remnant and to make sure none of them capitulated when the Imperium did their inevitable boasting. It would also be important to get Ozpin's group working with him.

* * *

Qrow put the scroll away. He thought about the implications of this "Imperium of Man," and what it would mean for the Kingdoms, the Huntsman Academies, for Ozpin's group, for Ruby, and for the Queen. He hoped that the Imperium would be able to help defeat the Queen, but that seemed unlikely, fighting a war on all sides. The next time he was in Vale he would have to talk to whoever the Vale representative would be and see if he could work a deal out. With Oz's permission, of course. Taking a sip of liquor, Qrow resumed his hunt.

* * *

James cut the feed. He had just admitted something that he hated to acknowledge, even within himself. He had said, to an entire planet's population, that he had no authority. It left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Now what will you do, sir?" Zora asked.

Sighing mentally, James said, "I suppose I'll return to Beacon and continue to teach."

"What?" Zora asked, her eyelights growing in shock.

"The Inquisition had been disbanded, remember? By order of the Emperor himself. I truly have no authority here. Technically, I didn't even have the authority to make that announcement."

After a moment's pause, Zora said, "I will go with you."

It was James's turn to be surprised, though he hid it better. "Don't you have to represent the Mechanicus to these people?"

Shaking her head, Zora said, "I can send representatives in my place. I was not the only one to conceal my augmentations in order to be approachable by lay people."

"Very well then. Send for Sister Marion and Brother Alfredus. Tell them we return to Beacon."

After relaying James's commands to a servitor messenger, Zora and James's headed down to the launch bay. _"_ _Now, for the next part of my plans, "_ James thought as they walked through the corridors.


	6. Chapter 6

A Reasonable Crusade

Part I: Ex Tenebra Lux

Part VI: Remnant of Aprior

Ironwood was not happy. When he met with Ozpin, he had tried to convince Ozpin to stop the Imperium's annexation. He was surprised to learn that Ozpin was collaborating with the occupiers, and even more surprised to find out that this James Fletcher, the first Imperial Ozpin had met, was now a member of Ozpin's group. Ironwood tried again to glare at the ex-Inquisitor, but dropped his gaze after making eye-contact with him. The Inquisitor himself didn't look too menacing, it was just all the all the skulls on his armor. Yeah, it was the skulls.

"Now listen, you grox-brained fool," the former Inquisitor said venomously, "Humanity needs to be united to face its many threats. If you cannot accept that," James's hand drifted to rest on his bolt pistol, "I will be forced to take drastic measures."

"But you can't just come here and take over. You're aliens! You know nothing of our culture!"

"Do not try my patience, child-"

"Child? I'm older than you!"

"I doubt that very much."

"You don't even have any gray in your hair!"

"Rejuvenation therapy tends to do that." Ironwood only glowered. To the Inquisitor, he appeared to be sulking. "I trust that you will accept our diplomats?"

"Yes. But that's all I'll do." Ironwood stated, desperate to maintain some appearance of power.

James remembered the encounter like it was yesterday. It was, in fact, not yesterday, but rather a few weeks ago. Ironwood had not been very cooperative after that meeting. It did not matter now, he would not try to stop anything, and that was enough.

It was lunch time, and James did as he always did. The novelty of the new food had long worn off. The beef just wasn't as good as grox meat. To make matters worse, his stock of amasec was starting to go dry and he hadn't been able to find a distillery.

While James was eating his lunch, he heard a girl cry out in a Prosperan accent, "Ow! That hurts!"

James sighed. The students here had no sense of discipline. He would have let the commotion continue if not for two things. The first was that, apparently, the school didn't like students getting into fights outside of combat class. Which was stupid. You should always be ready to protect yourself. The second, more important thing was that he did not like having his lunch disturbed. Now, James had very little authority. After being forced out of the guard by the Inquisition and the following disbanding of the Inquisition, James lost all rank. He still retained the title of Lieutenant, but didn't formally hold any rank. The only reason he still had any authority was because of his new position as Professor of Imperial History at Beacon. James got up and walked over to where the commotion was. Three boys were standing around while a fourth one pulled on one of the Faunus student's ears. James had been told about the Faunus by Ozpin when he joined Ozpin's group. To say that James had been disappointed with the Humans of Remnant would have been a dangerous understatement. After all, the Faunus were so similar to baseline Humans, and were extremely useful in a variety of tasks as well.

"Let go of the Faunus's ears, Mr. Wincester," James said flatly.

"Alright," Cardin said, releasing the Faunus, "the animal needs Professor Alien-" James's eye twitched. His hand shot out and grabbed Cardin's throat and lifted him in the air faster than a Commissar could raise a bolt pistol after seeing a fleeing Guardsman. His hand was exerting an amount of pressure similar to a bolt pistol's recoil.

"Do not call me that. I am not a Xeno," James said icily. Turning his glare to the other three boys, James finished, "You four, my office, after school." He set Cardin down and walked away as the kid massaged his throat. His aura prevented any serious damage from being done. The lunch room was silent as James walked back to his lunch. Hushed whispers started forming as James finished his meal. After eating lunch, James went to his office. The Imperial History class had been tacked onto the end of the school day, and took place in a large lecture hall so that there would be room for everyone. Looking over his notes James had pulled from the cogitator on his ship, James decided what the first lesson would be.

"Good afternoon, class. For our first lesson I will be covering the Cult Imperialis and its many sects. Pay attention, because all of you will be forced to convert eventually." A student raised his hand. "What is it, Mr. Tawny?"

"What about freedom of religion, sir?" the student asked.

"I would like to thank you, Mr. Tawny, for providing the topic of 'Why Freedom of Religion is Unbelievably Dangerous to the Imperium' for tomorrow." Many of the students were taken aback by this. Many of them were religious in name only, and plenty others were straight up Atheists. The realization that they were now part of a theocratic empire was an unpleasant one. "Now, there are many different variations of the Cult Imperialis. However, they can all be sorted into two categories, Radical and Puritan." James explained the many different versions of the Cult Imperialis. "Despite all their differences, most variations agree on a few things. One, that the God-Emperor of Mankind sacrificed himself to save us from the powers of Chaos. Two, that the God-Emperor of Mankind modeled humanity after himself, and that deviation from the holy human form is Heresy." James noticed some discomfort in the audience, particularly from the Faunus. To calm them down, James added, "However, there are some deviations that are not inherently considered Heresy. These are called Abhumans, and include races like Ratlings, Ogryn, and Faunus." The discomfort died a little, but not entirely. James thought it died down enough. "And lastly, that the God-Emperor of Mankind loves each and every last Human as his own children. Although, different sects disagree on whether this love extends to Abhumans and to what degree." The bell rang and students began to file out. James shot Team CRDL a look that froze them with fear as they tried to sneak out. When the last student had left, James walked over to them. Looking at Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing, and Sky Lark, James asked the boys, "Do you three know what you did wrong at lunch today?" James grabbed Cardin as he tried to sneak away. One of them had the courage to speak up.

"Was it making fun of the Faunus, sir?" asked Dove.

Shaking his head, James asked the other two if they had any guesses. After receiving only frightened shakes of the head, James said, "You did nothing."

Confused, Dove asked, "If we did nothing, then why are we here?"

"You are here precisely because you did nothing. Cardin may be your leader, but it is still your responsibility to prevent him from doing anything stupid. Failing that, you should have at least helped him." Hitting each on the top of the head with his gauntleted fist, he dismissed them. Turning to Cardin, he said, "I am a Human. I understand that that you may not have understood the severity of your accusation, is this correct?" Cardin nodded yes. "I will let you off lightly then." He then hit Cardin on his head three times. "You are the team leader. The actions of your teammates are your responsibility, so it stands that you should be punished for their inaction. Your real punishment is to report to the janitors after every meal. You will clean the mess hall by yourself. You will not leave until the janitors are satisfied, and you will not receive a pass to class. If you miss any days, your punishment will be extended by a week. Dismissed." Cardin ran off, sure that James was not bluffing. Sure that he had nipped that problem in the bud, James took out his last bottle of amasec. He would have to see about rigging up his own distillery. He'd also need something to distill in it.

* * *

They were deep in the Forever Fall forest, much deeper than base set up by the crew of _Black Rose_. James had decided to go on the field trip instead of Glynda Goodwitch, since he wanted to collect some of the sap for "Imperial Business." Definitely not so he could ferment it. Definitely not. "Alright, class," James called out, "Professor Peach has asked that you collect samples of sap from the trees in the forest. I am here to supervise you and collect some samples of my own. Miss Long, will you please focus on the task at hand." With a start, Yang wiped some drool from the corner of her mouth. She had been ogling his assault bike since she had first seen it. "Remember, this forest is full of Grimm daemons, so be careful. I do not want to have to fill out the paperwork if one of you dies under my watch." A few chuckles came from the group of students. "Now, get to work." With that, the teams wondered off in their own directions. James noticed that Jaune, the boy he had originally thought of as Jean, went with Team CRDL. James was suspicious of what it could mean, but did nothing. When Inquisitors act without evidence and are wrong, Inquisitorial Tribunals make sure they don't make that mistake again. James wanted to never have to be called in front of a Tribunal. As the Teams were gathering sap, James started collecting some of his own. Sampling, it tasted incredibly sweet. This would work finely.

* * *

"Now Jaune, I bet you're wondering, 'why did my buddy Cardin asked me to collect six jars of tree sap when there are only five of us?'"

"That is one of the many questions I have asked myself today, yes." Jaune said as he got up.

"Well, come with me and you'll find out."

Jaune gulped.

Cardin lead his team and Jaune to a ridge overlooking the other students.

"Cardin, what's going on?"

"Payback."

"Pyrrha?"

"No, you idiot! The Professor! That son of a bitch has got me serving detention for months now. Alright boys, last night Jaune here managed to round up an entire box of rapier wasps. And now, we're going to put them to work." Jaune let out a nervous chuckle. He had seen what Professor James had done to Cardin in the cafeteria. "Now, according to one of the papers Jauney Boy here wrote for me last week, these nasty things love sweets. I'm thinking its time we teach him a thing or two." Pulling Jaune up, Cardin said, "And you're going to do it."

"Going to do what?" Jaune asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"You're going to hit him with the sap. That, or I'm going to have a chat with Goodwitch, and you'll be on the first airship out of Beacon."

* * *

James heard the sound of glass breaking. "Please try to not break the jars. I do not enjoy the paperwork required to requisition new ones!" James shout towards where the noise came from. Turning back to what he was doing, James mumbled, "Fucking idiots." That was before he heard the roar. Later, James would say it was about then that things started to go ploin-shaped. Without even taking the tree tap out, James jumped onto _Khan's Wrath_ and grabbed his power lance. Three members of Team CRDL were running towards him.

"Ursa! Ursa!" Russel shouted as he ran past the other students. Couching his lance and drawing his bolt pistol, James sped up. He saw Pyrrha and Ruby draw their weapons and start running towards where Team CRDL had come from. Blake, Yang, Ren, and Nora started running towards him. Weiss went with Ruby. As he past the running students, he saw as the three girls stopped at the edge of the clearing.

Slowing down and coming to a stop, James asked, "What are you doing standing around? Your classmates is in trouble!"

Pyrrha started and quickly tried to explain. "Well, Jaune's hasn't been too confident in his fighting lately.. He really needs a confidence boost."

Staring at the girl James nodded. "A commander with no confidence brings ruin to his troops. Very well, we shall watch."

James was impressed with Jaune's ability to take a beating and keep going. His tenacity was what every Commissar wished for in a Guardsman. Jaune charged the Ursa again. He held up his shield and swung at the creature's neck. As he swung, he brought his shield down, creating an opening for the beast to swipe at him. Before the claws could make contact, his shield seemed to move on its own and blocked the swipe. He noticed that Pyrrha's hand moved at the same time. Taking the blow on the shield, Jaune swung and delivered the Emperor's Mercy to the daemon.

"Uh, what?" Ruby asked

"How did you-"

Cutting off Weiss, Pyrrha began to explain. "Well, Ruby has her speed, and you have your glyphs, my Semblance is polarity."

"Woah, you can control poles." Ruby said in amazement. James was also amazed. Not at Pyrrha's Semblance, but at Ruby's stupidity. Zora had said that she would've been a great tech-priestess had she not already chosen to be a Huntress, after all.

"No, you dunce!" Weiss said, "It means she has control over magnetism."

"Magnets are cool too." Ruby pointed out.

"Remember, this is supposed to help his confidence, so don't say anything." Pyrrha said as she walked away. Jaune walked over to Cardin and pulled him up.

"Holy crap, Jaune-"

"Don't mess with my team-my friends, ever again."

James called out to Jaune. "Good work, Mr. Arc. Not only have you defeated an Ursa Major singlehandedly, but you have done so to protect another." Shifting his gaze to Cardin, he added, "Even if the other should have been able to protect himself. Which reminds me, Mr. Winchester, tell your team that they are too write an essay on why cowardice is bad. I expect the four essays to be done by the end of the week." James had no intention of reading the essays. He would burn them as soon he had gotten back to his room. As the students returned to Beacon, James smiled inwardly. The situation had been successfully un-ploin-shaped.


	7. Chapter 7

A Reasonable Crusade

Part I: Ex Tenebra Lux

Chapter VII: Fucking Furries

Today students from other Academies would start arriving for the local's biennial celebration, the Vytal Festival. They would be participating in the Vytal Tournament, which James had no intention of watching. He was working on fermenting the jars of sap he had collected into alcohol. He had managed to find places that served alcoholic beverages called "wine," which tasted like undistilled amasec, "beer," which tasted like piss-water, and "vodka," which tasted almost Valhallan. He had designed a brewing kit, but fitting it in his room was troubling. Sure, he could leave it on the ship, but he didn't want to have to ride in a Valkyrie every time he wanted proper-strength alcohol. Giving up for now, he decided to see if the others wanted to go walking around town. Sister Marion, in the infirmary, was closest. After the Announcement had been made, her Sister Superior felt that she was not needed onboard the ship and had sent her to James. Due to her medicae training, it had been simple enough to get Ozpin to hire her as a nurse. The school's infirmary was not often used except to treat sick students, since the students all had aura to protect them. Walking into the infirmary, empty as usual, James asked the head nurse if he could borrow Sister Marion for the day. After receiving permission, he led the Sororita outside.

"How do you like working at Beacon so far?" James asked as they walked towards the Forge.

"It's astoundingly boring. Although, I suppose it is good that working at the infirmary has been boring."

"I suppose so." They continued talking as they walked. Mostly they speculated on what the Vytal Festival would be like and plans for Sanguinala, which would be almost a month after the Vytal Festival. Talks with Kingdoms had yet to reach the topic of Imperial holidays, so it would most likely be celebrated only by the _Black Rose_ 's crew and passengers. Opening the door to the Forge, they found Zora studying a Dust crystal.

"Hey Zora, what are you doing?" James asked as he walked in.

"I am studying the native's power source. They call it 'Dust.'"

"I'm well aware of what they call it, Zora," James said.

"As am I," Marion added.

"Have you learned anything about it?" James asked.

Eyelights curving in joy, Zora exclaimed, "Oh yes! It truly is a wondrous substance! It channels and stores energy, and can be used to massively strengthen material for a fraction of the weight otherwise required!" Her eyelights turned down. Sullenly, she said, "Unfortunately I cannot find a way to bring it to the ship without rendering it inert. I have made remarkable success down here, but I cannot fully study it without the equipment on board the ship."

"Would you like to take a break? Marion and I were going to look for Alfredus to see if he wanted to walk around the town. You can come too if you want."

"I suppose it would do no good to continue in this fruitless endeavor for now." Perking up, Zora then said, "Besides, it will give me a chance to study Remnant technology that is not available here."

"Come along then. Alfredus should already be in Vale on assignment." A few days ago, the Vale representative had requested his presence to demonstrate the null ability. Alfredus had not returned since.

* * *

Team JAMZ walked through the city of Vale. Any curious citizens who might have had questions for the four quickly found somewhere else to be once they entered Alfredus's null aura. The null aura disturbed James, and he almost considered telling Alfredus to stop it, but he enjoyed not being pestered with questions. Zora kept dragging the group into electronics stores. Of course, when they entered the stores Alfredus activated the null limiters built into his armor. While they were walking, they made their way to the docks. James overheard some people talking. Listening closer, it was two detectives talking about a crime. Then he heard a familiar voice.

"Hmmph. The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates."

Not wanting to deal with students that day, James turned around and walked back to where they came from. He had heard what he needed to, and it sounded like a job for the Inquisition. Which no longer existed. When they returned to Beacon, he went straight to Ozpin. As he was no longer a Lord Inquisitor, he had to get permission from his superior to take action.

Walking into Ozpin's office, James began, "Headmaster, I have some important news."

Looking up from the papers on his desk, Ozpin asked, "Yes, James, what is it?"

"Torchwick is still active in Vale."

"I already know that."

"Can I go after him?"

"Why would you want to do that?"

"On the night we first met he was working with Fall. He's been robbing Dust shops, taking all the Dust. If I can find his next target, and get there before he strikes, I can take him out. I just need to know of any Dust shipments coming in."

"There is a shipment from Atlas coming in on Sunday. You could do a stakeout."

"I'll be there."

And that was how James found himself hiding on a rooftop next to Blake. He saw Blake and another Faunus on the rooftop from where he had been on the ground earlier, but now the monkey was nowhere to be seen. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the monkey from earlier land on the roof.

"Hey Blake, who's this?"

"I am Professor James Fletcher. Tell me your name, child." James said before Blake could say anything.

"It's Sun Wukong-"

"Tell me your real name."

"That is my real name? Why would it not be?"

Shaking his head James explained, "Ancient Chogoran legend about a monkey with the same name."

Shaking it off, Sun said, "Well, I brought some food, but I didn't get you any, since I didn't know you'd be here."

Before anything else could be said, a VTOL vehicle landed in the courtyard below. A ramp opened, and a man in a Grimm mask with a white tunic walked out. Blake muttered, "Oh no."

"They must be working with Torchwick." James said.

"That wouldn't make since. The White Fang would never work with a Human."

"Alright, grab the tow-cables." The Fang leader called out.

"Hey! What's the hold up?" came a voice James registered as Torchwick's. "We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment, so why don't you animals try to pick up the pace?"

"This isn't right." Blake said. "The White Fang would never work with a Human like that." She drew her sword and jumped down to the ground.

"Blake, stand down!" James commanded. Blake missed a step, but continued.

"No you idiot, this isn't a leash!" Torchwick berated a Fang member. Blake grabbed Torchwick from behind and put her sword to his neck. It reminded James of a Fire Warrior's honor blade. "What the- Oh for fu-"

"Nobody move!" Blake shouted. The surrounding Fang members drew weapons.

"Woah, take it easy there little lady." Torchwick said smugly. As more Fang members surrounded her, she undid her bow, revealing what looked like, from that distance, wolf ears.

'Brothers of the White Fang!" Blake began, "Why are you aiding this scum?" This confused the Fang members.

Chuckling, Torchwick said, "Didn't you get the memo, kid?"

"What do you mean?"

"The White Fang and I are going into a joint business venture together."

"Tell me what it is, or I'll put an end to you little operation."

"I wouldn't call it 'little'" Torchwick said as two more vehicles flew over.

With a cry of "Fucking furries!" that would have made the Tomato Fuckup proud had it been directed towards Space Wolves, James gunned his bike and couched his lance. He opened up with his bolt pistol at the same time Torchwick hit the ground with a shot from his cane, freeing him from Blake. The Fang scattered and Torchwick took three shots at Blake. A banana peel landed on his hat and Sun joined the fight. As he did, more Fang members began jumping out of the aircraft. They surrounded James while Sun was fighting with Torchwick. James heard something about the "brightest banana." Not sure what that was supposed to mean, James put it out of his head. Choosing the Fang member furthest from Sun's fight, James charged him. The lance took his head off before he could react. The blood sizzled in the power field. Pivoting, the Fang members opened up on him, but most stubs simply bounced off his armor. Dust enhanced they may be, they were still stub rounds. Turning his bike, he fired his bolt pistol at the Fang members. Hitting with a body mass shot, the bolt pierced the first one's armor like it was standard IG flak armor. The bolt detonated inside, exploding his body. Parts of him went flying, trailing blood as they flew. It was like this for all who encountered a bolt round. One Fang member was unlucky enough to be caught under the wheels of the assault bike. He was flattened and torn up, the weight of the bike and speed of the wheels turned him and his armor into liquid mulch. Blake and Sun were still busy fighting Torchwick.

"Hey!" James looked up to see that Ruby had arrived.

"Oh, hello, Red!" Torchwick said with false cheer. "isn't it past your bedtime?"

"You snark at her, but not me?" James taunted.

"Oh. I'm sorry Pops. I didn't see you there. Guess I should've expected you to protect your harem."

With a snarl, James shouted, "That's heresy!" and charged at Torchwick, lance pointed at his head. He never made contact, instead passing through. James turned the bike around in time to see a young girl stick her tongue out at him from a retreating aircraft. Torchwick was standing next to her as the door closed. Three more aircraft flew up to cover their retreat. The new craft opened fire, causing the students to scatter. Green beams of light cut each ship in half.

James watched over the four children as the police did their business. Two more girls, Weiss and Yang, James realized, walked up.

Walking up, James barked, "Where in the name of the Emperor have you two been?"

"We've been looking all over for Blake, sir." Weiss retorted.

"Do not speak to me like that, young lady." James's voice was hard. After hearing Weiss make a frightened noise, James turned to Blake. "Is there anything you want to tell your teammates, Miss Belladonna?"

Taking a breath, Blake began, "Weiss, I want you to know I am no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was with them-"

"Stop. Do you have any idea how long we've been searching for you? Twelve hours! That means I've had twelve hours to think this over. And in those twelve hours, I've decided," Weiss paused. As the pause continued, James almost decided to tell Weiss to hurry up. Before he could, she continued. "I don't care!"

"You don't care?"

"You said you're not one of them anymore, right?"

"No, I-I haven't been since I was younger-"

"Ahbubububup! I don't want to hear it. All I want to know is the next time something this big comes up," Weiss paused again. Fortunately, this pause was shorter than the previous one. "You'll come to your teammates, and not some-" Weiss cut off, realizing Blake might not take what she was about to say well, "Someone else."

After wiping her eye, Blake agreed.

After a moment's pause, Ruby shouted, "Yay, Team RWBY is back together!"

As the five came together, Weiss pointed at Sun and said, "I'm still not sure how I feel about you!"

"Where's Penny?" James interjected. Looking around, none of them could find her.

As James escorted the students back to Beacon, he internally berated himself. Of fucking course they had an illusionist. He should have brought Alfredus with him. The psykers illusions would never have worked in his null aura. His plasma gun could also probably have brought down their escape craft. But it was too late now, and Torchwick had gotten away. Still, the night had not been a complete failure; he had prevented Torchwick's acquisition of a large quantity of Dust, as well as learnt about the abilities of his enemy.


	8. Chapter 8

**=][= This is written under the assumption that the reader has watched RWBY. It is to be assumed that if a scene is not included, it happened as similarly as possible to the show. I do not wish to write scenes exactly as they happen in the show. =][=**

A Reasonable Crusade

Part II: Lux Magnus

Chapter I: Plot Your Schemes

James walked around the campus. He looked over the school grounds as he walked by. It was sorely unprotected, without even a single anti-air emplacement. He would have to change that later. He was late to lunch, which was unusual, but he had been busy. Zora was still trying to figure out how to get Dust onto _Black Rose_ without it going inert. If they could figure out how to do that, it would be immensely valuable to the Imperium. As it was, it would still be good for Remnant PDF forces, but useless beyond that. Still, aura could be useful for the Imperial war engine if it could be used safely. He turned to walk over the mess hall when he saw a student fly from its roof. The student disappeared into the atmosphere. Downing the rest of his tea, James decided that he was not drunk enough for this groxshit, and changed course for his room. He was content to skip lunch today.

* * *

The Laughing God laughed. Frowning, the Emperor said, "This is serious business, dick. We have to find a way to get them out of there before they become food for him."

"Or we could use him to weaken his power over that universe, Goldy," the Emperor growled at the nickname, "and prevent the Four from gaining any footholds. Besides, he's already made so much progress!" Despite what Cegorach said, James had not made much progress.

"What good would it do? There's so few of them. Even against Gretchens, those numbers would overwhelm the Space Marines."

"Then send them reinforcements."

The Emperor stared flatly at Cegorach. "You know damn well that practically every other Imperial force would execute them on sight for heresy."

Cegorach smiled innocently, "Who said they had to be Imperial?"

"Fuck no. You faggots already fucked up one galaxy; I'm not letting you do it to another one. Especially not one with powers like that."

* * *

"Almost," Tzeentch muttered.

"Almost what?" Nurgle gurgled. "Almost decide who to send, what to do, or how to get in?"

"Yes," was all that Tzeentch replied with.

"Ooh, ambiguous, just like me," Slaanesh said while running her lips over his mouth. Khorne visibly twitched.

"It's simple. We send as many cultists in as possible, then we overrun them by force." Khorne screamed at Nurgle. "However, we can't just force our way in," Khorne continued yelling, "The Renegade's power is too strong. We have to slip in, like a rapier through armor-"

"Or a penis into a-"

"Motherfucker! Stop interrupting me you filthy whore!"

"Aren't you supposed to be the God of Excess?" Nurgle bubbled.

"Technically, yes. But the easiest thing to overindulge in is sex, my sweet little pile of pudding," Slaanesh cooed at Nurgle. Isha glared at it, harder than usual.

"I'd say the easiest thing to overindulge in is love. After all, all of my followers just want to spread my love, and they die because others are unaccepting of their love."

"We do not have time for your pointless bickering," Tzeentch squawked. "We have work to do."

* * *

Zora examined her newest creation. She had, very reluctantly, concluded that Dust could not be brought off planet without destroying it, so she focused on experimenting with the material. It was truly remarkable, highly reactive, with interesting properties. The different varieties it came in were intriguing as well, and she endeavored to discover what it was that made them different. She let out a curse in binary as the Dust-enhanced laspistol she made exploded. The stuff worked fine with stub and autoguns, but she had yet to figure out how to apply it to energy weapons. If she could, this planet would become a very hard nut to crack. Sighing, she turned back to her blueprints and started making changes.

* * *

As James entered his dorm he received a message on his scroll. It was a message from Ozpin, summoning him to his office. Grabbing a bottle of vodka, James took a swig before heading out. As he walked, _Gentleman's Club_ clacked against the ground. It and _Rose's Thorns_ were the only weapons he had on him, as he chose to wear normal clothing instead of power armor. His shirt had the coat-of-arms of House Fletcher over the left breast, a simple shield split into two fields, one red the other white, with a rose of the other field's color centered in each. Even without the armor, he struck an imposing figure. Eventually he got to the elevatum that lead to Ozpin's office. Taking it up, James grumbled about how slow they were. Even after months of living on Remnant, he had not gotten used to the slow elevati. Visiting the ship to make sure nothing was going wrong, and the inherent exposure to normal speed elevati, didn't help. It was just another thing he would have to talk to Ozpin about. Later though, when other matters were taken care of. James took a swig from the bottle he had taken with him. The door opened up into Ozpin's office. Inside, Glynda and Ozpin were waiting for him.

"Come in, James," Ozpin said, taking a sip of recaff. "Glynda and I have decided to give you a special assignment."

James was annoyed by the information. He chaffed at being under someone's authority. "Very well, what is it?" James asked with hint of his annoyance in neither face nor voice.

This time it was Glynda who spoke. "We want you to keep an eye on Ruby and her team. To protect them."

Without betraying the slight surprise he felt, James simply asked, "Why?"

"We believe that they may be important to our plans."

Again, James asked, "Why?"

Setting his cup down, Ozpin answered with his own question, "Have you noticed anything strange about Team RWBY?"

Shaking his head, James said, "You mean besides Ruby's Mechanicus-tier obsession with weapons and tech, Weiss's upbringing, Blake's wolf ears, and the fact the Yang dresses more like a Slaaneshi cultist than a fighter?"

"Blake doesn't have wolf ears."

"Groxshit, of course she does. How else could her bow twitch?"

"They're cat ears."

James considered this. He hadn't gotten a close look at her ears, but he had looked. Before James could say anything, Glynda made a sound.

"What we're talking about is Ruby's eyes."

"What about her eyes?"

"They're silver."

"So?" James was beginning to get irritated.

Ozpin picked up where Glynda let off. "Silver eyes have a special significance in our culture. Long before the time of Huntsmen, there were the silver-eyed warriors. It was said that a single look from one of them could send Grimm running." Ozpin drank from his cup. "Ruby is one of these warriors. We believe that her power could be essential in defeating the Queen."

"And to keep her safe, you need me to keep her team safe." James finished. After receiving two nods, he asked if there was anything else they wanted from him. When he received confirmation that that was all, he turned and left the room. After the elevatum doors closed, he drained the rest of the vodka. It was like a weaker version of the drink of his homeworld. As he went down, he thought about how he would go about completing his mission. _It would probably be easier to have one of us watch each of them instead of just me watching all four. I just have to figure out who to pair with each other. Ruby would go with Zora, obviously, Marion could probably go with Yang, but what about Weiss and Blake? Blake seems to be something of a social outcast, maybe Alfredus could go with her? Yeah, that sounds good. That leaves me with Weiss. What could go wrong? We're both highborn, and her name sounds Kriegan._ Grimacing, James thought, _Compared to my birth name "Jan". A Kraut and a Pole, what could go wrong?_ Vaguely, he wondered about the origins of those demonyms. "Krieg" sounded almost nothing like "Kraut" and his planet didn't have "pole" anywhere in the name. James headed towards the Forge to tell Zora about their new assignment.

* * *

The Grimm burst into flames. Well, more accurately, the Grimm-shaped target did. Marion smiled. She was practicing with her Cherubim, a sniperflamer. How the Mechanic had managed to create such a thing was beyond her. She specialized in medicine, after all. Brother Alfredus was next to her, unleashing his plasma gun into the targets. A normal plasma gun would have exploded a long time ago. This, however, was not a normal plasma gun. It was an Aprior-pattern plasma gun, a vast improvement in reliability over the ones built by the Martians. It was amazing, really, how much the Apriori had managed to achieve in their millennia of isolation from the Imperium. Lining up another shot, Marion's smile grew. Burning things was just so fun.

* * *

James entered the Forge. Zora looked up from what she was doing. It appeared to be some sort of laspistol, but Dust crystals littered the table around where Zora was working.

"Artisan," James began, "the Headmaster has given us a mission."

Eyelights growing in surprise, Zora asked, "Really? What is it?"

"Ozpin wants us to look after Team RWBY. I was thinking it would be best if you looked over Ruby. Do you want to?" It was phrased as a question, but sounded like a command.

Not noticing, Zora answered, "Oh, I'd love too! She can probably help me with my projects, and I could ask her to join the Mechanicus as well!"

Concerned, James asked, "What if she says no? Aren't people who refuse entry to the Cult Mechanicus killed? That would defeat the entire purpose of protecting her."

Zora glared at James. "We maybe Mechanicus, but we are not Mars. We do not resort to such barbaric tactics to increase our numbers." Even if her voice wasn't synthetic it would've sounded cold.

Some concern alleviated, James turned to leave. "Alright, I'll go talk with Marion and Alfredus now. Do you know where they are?"

Back to being cheerful, Zora said, "Practice range."

"Thanks." James stepped out the door and turned to go down the hall. He went to his dorm room since it was on the way to the practice range. One more drink wouldn't hurt.

After stopping by his dorm and picking up another bottle of vodka, James walked to the practice range. He quickly saw the forms of Marion and Alfredus. They were not the only ones there, but Alfredus's size clearly marked him out, even without his power armor. He assumed the white haired girl next to him was Marion. He walked over to them and got their attention. Signaling for them to follow, he lead them to a more isolated spot. Making sure no one was in earshot, James began, "Ozpin has given us a mission. He wants us to protect Team RWBY. He believes that they may be instrumental in taking down the Queen." Their expressions didn't change. "To this end, I am assigning you to look over Blake and Yang. Marion will go with Yang and Alfredus with Blake. Protect them as best you can how you see fit." After they signaled their comprehension, James dismissed them. James left the practice range. Heading towards the garden, James reminisced about his time in the Guard and his life before. It was not often he had the luxury.

* * *

Salem sat in her throne. The news from Vale was not good. One of the Corpse's slaves had landed, and was working to bring Remnant into the Imperium. If the Carrion Lord could get his followers to Remnant, then surely Chaos could too. If Chaos found a foothold in Remnant it would ruin all of her planning. Her plans would have to change to deal with these new arrivals. No matter what, Remnant would be taken by Malice.

"Tell Cinder there's been a development." Salem said coolly. "We're going to need to pick up the pace."


	9. Chapter 9

A Reasonable Crusade

Part II: Lux Magnus

Chapter II: The Rose

James, Glynda, and Ozpin stood watching as the Atlesian airships arrived in Vale.

"Ironwood sure does like bringing his work wherever he goes," Glynda said bitterly.

"Running an academy and a military makes him a busy man." Ozpin said. "But yes, they are an eyesore." Before James could say anything, an alert flashed on Ozpin's desk. "Come in."

"Ozpin!" Ironwood said as he walked in.

"Hello, General."

"Please, drop the formalities." Ironwood chuckled as he shook Ozpin's hand. "It's been too long," stepping away from Ozpin, Ironwood finished, "and Glynda! It has certainly been too long since I've last seen you!" Ironwood pointedly ignored the ex-Inquisitor.

"Oh James!" Glynda said mockingly. Turning to Ozpin, she said, "I'll be outside."

After directing a glare at Ironwood, James said, "I have business that I must attend to," and followed after Glynda. Once in the elevator, James took out a bottle of vodka from his coat and took a swig. Glynda stared at him.

"How many of those have you had today?" Glynda asked.

"Including this one, only two."

"It's not even lunch yet!"

Raising an eyebrow, James said, "So?" Glynda just stared at him.

"How are you not drunk yet?"

"Best augmetic liver Inquisitorial authority can requisition." James put the bottle back in his pocket before the elevator doors opened. Before he left, James said, "Ironwood made a mistake bringing so many soldiers here publicly." He walked off before Glynda could say anything. He decided to head to the library.

At the library, James walked in on a rather odd scene. Weiss was monologueing about warriors pillaging their homes and taking children. Yang said something, moved some pieces on the table, it appeared they were playing a board game of some sort, and soon Weiss and Ruby were clinging together, both crying. As James walked over, he saw Jaune start to get up. After making eye contact with James, however, he sat back down. He grabbed a book and pretended to study.

"I'm impressed, Mr. Arc. Not many people study effectively with their book upside down." James said flatly. Jaune reddened as he hurriedly flipped his book. This resulted in snickers from Team RWBY and Nora. "What are you children playing?"

"Sup losers, and Mr. Professor." Sun said as he came sauntering up. A blue-haired boy followed him. At first, Sun had been afraid of James, as any normal person would be, but over time he had gotten over that fear. Something a normal person would not do. If James had still been an Inquisitor, that would have been grounds for suspicion and possible execution, but he was now only a teacher. Besides, James found executions based solely on suspicion distasteful. Continuing, Sun said, "Yang? Blake? Ice Queen?"

"Why does everyone keep calling me that!"

"Well, for one you are an heiress," James said, "two, your symbol is a snow flake, and three, your name literally translates from Krieg as 'White Snow.'"

"Wait, what?" Weiss responded.

Waving his hand dismissively, James said, "Well known Imperial planet."

"Anyways, I never got to introduce you guys to my old friend,"

Sun's friend then asked, "Uh, aren't libraries supposed to be for reading?"

This prompted an exasperated "Thank you" from Ren.

"Shut up; don't be a nerd,"

Making a noise, Sun's friend retorted, "Intellectual, okay? Thank you." Turning to the group, he said, "I'm Neptune."

James didn't know why he was surprised. These people had references to things they shouldn't even know about everywhere. James chose to stay quiet, instead of asking any questions."

Weiss asked, "So Neptune, where are you from?"

"Haven," Neptune replied. Walking up to Weiss, he continued, "And I don't believe I caught your name, Snow Angel."

"Uhm, I'm Weiss."

Jaune muttered in frustration.

Looking at Blake and James, Sun said, "So, I never took either of you as the board-game playing types."

"Right, well I think I'm done playing, actually." Blake got up and pushed Sun out of the way. I'll see you guys later." Everyone watched Blake go.

"Women!" Nora said while shrugging.

"As for me," James said guickly, before anything else could happen, "Back on Szczecia there was a popular miniatures game commonly played by nobles. I was the reigning champion for three years."

This surprised the students. After all, who would've thought that their mean, glowering, skull-wearing professor played board-games? After a moment of stunned silence, they all began speaking at once.

"Stechia?" asked Yang.

"Who beat you?" came Pyrrha.

"What was it called?" was what Ruby asked.

"You're a noble?" asked Weiss.

"How did you lose?" asked Ren.

"Can we break their legs?" Nora asked too excitedly.

"Do you have a copy?" Jaune asked.

"How was it played?" asked Neptune.

"You played games?" Sun asked.

"One at a time, children." James requested. It sounded like a command. "Ice Queen, you first." Weiss was about to object, but then remembered who she was talking to. Instead she repeated her question. James waved dismissively and said, "something like that. Ruby, you next."

"What was the game called?" Ruby asked, excited as always.

"It was called _Hussar_. Next question."

Neptune managed to ask his before anyone else could.

"It's quite complicated, but the short of it is two sides fight each other over objectives. There's different factions, each with a special ability and their own units, and there's different types of units, but that's all I care to explain without a rulebook." James caught a whiff of promethium.

"What are you doing, sir?" asked Sister Marion.

"I'm just getting to know the troops better, is all. They fight better that way." The students asked him to repeat what he said, but he dismissed their questions with a wave of his hand. "What brings you up to the library, Sister?"

"I was thinking I could-don't touch that!" Marion slapped Ruby's hand away from her Cherubim. "You could burn down the entire school if this went off in here!"

"Sorry!" Ruby squeaked. "I just wanted to see what it was!"

Marion unslung the sniperflamer, much to the librarian's distaste, and laid it on the table for Ruby to look at.

"Ooh, what is it?" Ruby asked.

"This is an Adepta Sororitas 'Cherubim' sniperflamer."

"That's so cool!" Marion had to slap Ruby's hand away again.

"Sorry about that," Yang said, "my sister has a _burning_ passion for weapons."

This prompted cries of "Yang!" from the students. James fished his bottle of vodka out from his coat.

"That pun was so bad I think I need a drink." The students watched open-mouthed as their professor drained an entire bottle of vodka right in front of them.

"Well, I'll get back to my business." Marion said, pretending not to notice James drinking. She reclaimed her Cherubim and turned to go deeper into the library. James finished the bottle and watched as Marion walked away. When he turned back to look at the students, he found shocked faces on them.

"Professor, isn't she a nun?" Yang asked.

"Something close to that. Why?" Then he tasted iron. He put his hand to his nose and found dark blood when he pulled it away. He recalled the second bottle vodka tasting different, but figured it was just different brands. "Kurwa," was all James was able to say before he blacked out.

As Marion ran back to the ex-Inquisitor, Emerald watched from behind a bookcase. She took her scroll out and sent Cinder a message saying, "The Rose has been plucked." Using her Semblance, she left the library without being noticed.

* * *

James sat up groggily. He was the only one in the infirmary, besides Marion, as usual. Upon seeing that he was awake, Marion walked over.

"How's it feel?"

"Feels like groxshit." James rubbed his eyes. "Can I get some vodka?"

"Absolutely not. If you hadn't overloaded augmetic liver with so much alcohol, the poison would have passed through with only a mild headache."

After grumbling for a bit, James asked, "What was it?"

"The natives call it Aura Killer, since it prevents people who consume it from using aura. It's like liquid null aura." James processed the information. "It's so similar in fact, if you had been a middling strength psyker, you would have died, even with the augmetic liver. You came close enough as it is."

"Another reason to be glad I'm not a psyker, then."

"Some people want to see you."

Sighing internally, James said, "Alright, let them in."

Marion stepped out of the infirmary. When she came back, she had Ozpin, Team RWBY, Team JNPR, Sun, and Neptune with her.

"Are you feeling better?" Ozpin asked.

"I feel alright, but the Sister won't let me drink anything." Ozpin raised an eyebrow at Marion.

Defending herself, she said, "He's only asked for alcoholic drinks. I told him no, because he wouldn't even be in this mess if he hadn't drunk an entire bottle in the library."

Ozpin turned back to look at James. "Mr. Fletcher, you are aware that you aren't supposed to drink in front of the students, right?"

"Not my fault Ms. Long told such a bad pun. I needed to do something about it."

Before Ozpin could respond, Yang butted in, "I'm so sorry, professor. What will my _pun_ ishment be?" The students all groaned, and even Ozpin closed his eyes and sighed. Marion quickly grabbed Yang, dragged her to the door and threw her out, despite Yang's promises that she would stop. Yang skidded a few feet on the tile before stopping.

After closing the door, Marion wondered out loud, "I wonder how far I could throw her in power armor?"

"Marion, do you know where my bolt pistol is?"

"Yes, why?"

"I want to be ready in case she makes another pun." The students got horrified looks on their faces, and Ozpin frowned in concern. "Just to pistol whip her. What, you want me to use a power cane?"

"We don't approve of beating students here, James."

"No wonder you're so undisciplined. In the Guard, you have to watch what you're doing, or else a Commissar will use his bolt pistol to more than just pistol whip you." James grimaced, "Though I do find such measures distasteful."

"Anyways, do you have any idea why you were poisoned?"

"Ozpin, I can think of no one who'd want to kill a teacher and actually go through with it, especially at this school." James said. "I can, however, think of many people who would want to kill an Inquisitor Lord. I can also think of a few people who might want to kill the heir to Szcezian Kingship." The students gasped.

"I thought you said you were only a noble!" Weiss exclaimed.

Cutting off any further statements, James continued, "Though I am neither of those things anymore, due to the disbandment of the Inquisition, and the fact that the heirship passed from me when I joined the Imperial Guard. Besides, none of them would be on Remnant."

"Well, if you do not know, I will leave you now. Children, is there anything you want to say?"

The students wished him well and left, leaving him alone with Marion once again. James lay back down. Sitting for so long had given him a headache, so he decided it was best if he rested.

* * *

"I wonder who would want to poison a teacher," Weiss asked of no one in particular. "It just doesn't make sense."

"Maybe it was Torchwick. He interfered with his robberies twice now." Ruby said.

"Maybe. It could have been the White Fang. They are working with Roman now."

"But why bother with poison? He goes out into Vale alone after dark frequently, why not just attack him then?" Weiss said.

"If that's why they're after him, then that puts Ruby at risk too, and I won't let anyone hurt my baby sister!" Her face was dark. Ruby thought that if she got any angrier her eyes would go red.

"Whatever it is, I think it's almost definitely connected with the Fang. We need to stop them now more than ever." Blake said, calling back memories of what had happen in their dorm while they were waiting to see if James was okay.

"Agreed." Weiss said. After a few seconds of walking in silence, she continued, "You know, after what he told us in the library, he doesn't seem so thorny now." Yang got an evil grin.

"I didn't know Ice Queen was into older men!" Weiss's face reddened with rage.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it!"

"Looks like WhiteRose really is happening, just with a different rose!" Yang continued to poke fun at Weiss. At the mention of "WhiteRose," Ruby began to resemble her namesake gem.


	10. Chapter 10

**=][= I write short chapters because I can get them out quicker =][=**

A Reasonable Crusade

Part II: Lux Magnus

Chapter III: The Retinue

James hated his life. He was confined to his bed in the infirmary, something about "a nurse always outranks her patient, even if her patient is a Lord Inquisitor." It had been hard enough convincing Marion to let him use his scroll. Despite what he had told Ozpin, he had an idea of who might want to kill him. He had not outright lied to Ozpin, just avoided telling the whole truth. The people who might want to kill him for being an Inquisitor or his heirship wouldn't be on Remnant, and he couldn't think of anyone who would want to kill him for being a teacher. However, that was probably not why the Queen wanted him dead. He decided to keep it from Ozpin because he was starting to doubt Ozpin's competence. _'_ _I will find your worm, Queen'_ James thought as he browsed through feed from the recently bugged dorms.

* * *

Alfredus walked quickly through the halls. Students parted around his massive form as he walked towards the launch pad, thanks in small part to his active null aura. He kept it very close around him, and weakened at that, so as to not kill one of the students. In earlier days, students would stop and gape, forcing him to have it stronger just to get by. He was a Space Marine, after all, and he was tall even for one of the Emperor's Chosen. There might be others close to his size, but they were rare. Earlier he had voxxed Zora and Marion that he had overheard their charges planning to go out and hunt down Torchwick and the Fang. Both of them said that they would be on the next flight to Vale to track them down, and just as they said, they were waiting on the landing pad as he approached.

"Does James know of our plan?" he asked Marion as they boarded the bullhead. The lack of weapons still disgruntled him.

"No. He's still in the infirmary, so there's not much he'd be able to do anyways. I figured we shouldn't worry him until afterwards."

"Very well," Alfredus covertly scanned the area around them, making sure no one was listening in. "Remember, we're going to observe them and to make sure they don't get into trouble. Only reveal yourselves if you have to."

"Yes, Brother,"

"Of course, Astartes,"

"Zora, how are we going to find them?" Marion asked, "I assume we will trace their scrolls through the CCTS?"

Zora shook her head. "Unfortunately, we cannot. The only piece of Imperial tech that can access the CCTS is the _Black Rose_ 's short-range vox. We will have to search for them using clues Alfredus has picked up."

"I only know where two of them went. Miss Xiao Long said she had a 'friend' on the shady side of town and Miss Belladonna said the Fang have regular meetings, but neither said where. Miss Rose and Miss Schnee both went to the CCTS."

"Then that is where we will go."

The three Imperials departed the transport and started hiking down to the CCTS. They passed many people along the way, and Alfredus had to strengthen his null aura just to get past. The crowd started to thin as they approached the large tower. Though it was not as tall as many Imperial buildings, especially in the cities, but it dwarfed the other buildings they had seen on Remnant as a Battleship dwarfs a Light Cruiser. Weiss and Ruby were nowhere to be seen. Zora told Alfredus and Marion to wait outside while she went to look around inside. She entered the building, and went to the elevator. It asked her to place her scroll on the terminal. One of her mechandrites slithered out from under her robe, and laid itself against the terminal. She was glad she had thought to implant her scroll into one of her mechandrites. Zora sighed as the elevator went up. She was still too unfamiliar with Remnant tech to be able to trace Team RWBY's scrolls through the CCTS with it though. That would've greatly quickened their search. The lack of machine spirits also depressed her. Usually there was something, but on Remnant the spirits weren't just asleep, they weren't there at all. She created a reminder to install machine spirits in Remnant tech and filed it away in her "IMPORTANT STUFF" folder.

The elevator doors opened and a holovid popped up asking her what she needed help with. After addressing it in Low Gothic, it directed her to a terminal where she could find what she wanted. At the terminal she searched for transmissions from Team RWBY's scrolls. Hopefully they would contain information on where they went. _Hmm? What's this?_ Zora thought as she looked over the transmission. _These documents contain incredibly sensitive material! I'll just delete this so no one can be unscrupulous with it._ Zora deleted the files Weiss had downloaded from the CCTS. Not before downloading them to her own scroll, but still, she deleted them. She read through the files as she left the tower. She doubted she would have been given access to that information, or even been allowed to search for RWBY's transmissions had she not been an Artisan.

As Zora left the CCTS, Alfredus approached her. There was no overwhelming sense of revulsion as he did. "Artisan, did you find them?"

Zora shook her head. "No, but I did find some rather sensitive SDC documents. I removed them from the tower records, so no one can use them to do harm." The documents Zora had acquired were all strictly related to the Schnee Dust Company.

"Then it looks like we will have to scour the city to find them."

"Alright. We should split up; they've gone in separate groups and I doubt they'll be meeting up until they return." Marion pointed out.

"Agreed. Ex Tenebra Lux" Alfredus said.

"Ex Tenebra Lux!" Marion and Zora said in reply. The three Imperials left the CCTS, heading three different ways.

* * *

Zora looked around Vale. It was a nice city, if a bit dated. It was also large. She had no idea how she would find Ruby and Weiss without some sort of tracker. She walked around the city's big avenues, looked into little shops, and visited cafes the two might've passed. Eventually, she passed a shop she recognized.

"Greetings," Zora said as she walked into the Dust shop. "I recall that some friends of mine help stop a robbery here." She put her eyes into their happy mode, and tried to add a pleasant lilt to her voice to not disturb the old man.

In his raspy voice, the old man behind the counter said, "You mean the little red-cloaked girl and the scary-scull man?"

"Yes, those two."

"I hear he's a Professor at Beacon now. Hard to believe such an evil-looking fella's a teacher."

Ignoring the slight against her team leader, Zora continued, "Well, he is. The girl's a student at Beacon too."

"Really? She must've done something to impress someone if she got in that early."

"She sure did. Unfortunately, she's gone missing. You wouldn't have happened to have seen her today?"

Surprised, the old man asked, "What? She disappeared?" Remembering she asked him a question, "No, I haven't seen her. But don't worry, seeing how she stood against that Torchwick fellow, I think she can take care of herself."

"Alright then, sorry to trouble you." Zora turned to leave, but stopped as the old man spoke again.

"I was just on my way out to get a new shipment of Dust. You might see her on the way."

Zora considered the offer. Eventually, she decided to accept, as the speed of the vehicle would allow her to cover more ground quicker, even if it was out of the way. The old man led her outback to a van. He climbed in the driver's seat and Zora sat in the passenger seat. She had to move her mechandrites so they wouldn't ruin the seat. As they drove, they talked. Mostly about Dust and how it worked. He didn't know anything that Zora hadn't discovered in her months of studying the substance. He only sold the stuff, after all. Eventually, the conversation turned back to Ruby. Apparently, the girl was one of the old man's biggest customers, accounting for nearly a percent of all sales annually. That was impressive in a big city like Vale, even for a small store like From Dust Till Dawn. They rounded a corner, and a girl came flying out of an alleyway, right into their path. The old man honked to get the girls attention. They were going too fast, they couldn't stop. "Omnissiah! Is that Ruby?" Zora shouted, two large yellow orbs shining from her hood. The girl got up and looked right at the oncoming vehicle, confirming that it was Ruby. Zora calculated that at the speed they were going, Ruby could probably be salvageable if they hit her. If she used her aura. Probably.

Zora felt the truck lift as it was suddenly stopped. An orange-haired girl had stepped in front of the van and blocked it. Perhaps she had underestimated the power of aura? Before the van finished falling back, Zora opened the door and stepped outside. Her foot and the van's back wheels landed at the same time.

"Are you okay?" the girl asked the old man. He nodded his head, clearly shaken up by what just happened.

Zora walked over to Ruby. Before she could speak, the orange-headed girl ran past. Ruby followed her, shouting back, "Sorry, Artisan, we can talk later!" Now addressing the orange haired girl, she cried out, "Penny! Come back!"

Zora took a moment to consider the area. The van was totaled, and the street had minor damage. As she turned to follow Ruby and the girl, two soldiers shoved their way through the gathering crowd and followed a few steps behind her.

* * *

Marion sat at the bar. It was the grand re-opening of the place. Apparently, during the summer, some kid had walked in, then completely trashed the place. She frowned at her surroundings. It wasn't quite to her taste, all the hard edges and lights. She would've preferred a more rustic bar. Unfortunately she had to be here. Her query had said she had a friend on the shady side of town who knew everything, and to Marion, that description perfectly fit a bartender. She had visited every pub, bar, and club in the city, or near enough, anyways. Things started to get a little blurry after the first dozen drinks or so. She still had not found a clue as to her whereabouts. She called the bartender over and was just about to ask him if he knew a golden-haired bimbo with eyes that matched her own, when two guards rushed in and shouted, "Quick! Close the doors! She's coming!"

The owner, "Junior" walked over to the end of the bar, angry as an Ork, and shouted, "What are you two idiots doing?"

He was greeted with panicked shouts of "She's coming!" and "She's here!" Before they could explain further, an explosion basted the doors open and Marion instantly went for her flamer.

Yang Xiao Long strode through the doors, swaying as she walked. "Guess who's back?' she called out. Instantly, every guard in the building had his weapon trained on her. Marion put away her flamer. She doubted that Yang would hurt her. The music cut off, and someone, Neptune, emerged from behind her. He asked Yang something, but Marion couldn't make it out.

Deserting his post at the bar, Junior called out, "Stop! Stop! Nobody. Shoot." He forced his way through the crowd. Marion got up and followed. She got there in time to hear something about a drink as Yang dragged Junior away. Marion caught a wink from Yang as she passed her. Not sure what to make of it, Marion took her seat at the bar and ordered another drink. It wasn't the same as amasec, but it was still good. She listened in on Yang and Junior's conversation, hoping to find something out.

* * *

Alfredus was having the hardest time of all three. He was following Blake, and Blake was going to sneak into a meeting of terrorists. A meeting of human-hating, Faunus only, terrorists. He had to figure out how to get in. He doubted he could pass for a Faunus, since he had no animal traits, and he doubted he could get in without bumping into someone if he used his armor's active camouflage. He shoved a thought bemoaning the lack of any Felinids on the mission out of his head. _'_ _Do what you can with what you have, and pray to the Emperor that it's enough to do what you must.'_ He had taken that line to heart. He had been following the two; it appeared that Blake had picked up Sun sometime before he found them, for a few hours now. They now entered an old warehouse, ever the stereotypical hideout for bad guys, even in the Imperium. He assumed it was the White Fang hideout from the claw mark on the side. Alfredus snuck in behind them, careful to not touch anything lest his cover be blown. As the last Faunus entered, Alfredus took up position just by the entrance where he could stand watch with minimal chance of being bumped into. The meeting started off fine, with Torchwick being introduced and him giving his offer to the Fang. As the new recruits started to line up, Torchwick noticed them. That was where things went ploin-shaped. Blake fired the lights and Torchwick shouted. In the panic, Blake and Sun crashed through the window, and the Paladin followed through the wall right behind them. Deactivating his active camouflage, Alfredus ran right behind them with a cry of "Light up the night!" slowly gaining on them. He then voxxed Marion and Zora for backup.


	11. Chapter 11

**=][= Reminder that reviews are always appreciated! =][=**

A Reasonable Crusade

Part II: Lux Magnus

Chapter IV: Battle Tendency

Marion followed Yang out of Junior's. Alfredus's voice filtered through her vox.

"Sister! Artisan! Targets have engaged Torchwick. Requesting backup. Be advised: Torchwick has a battlesuit."

"Copy that! What's your position?" Marion sent back. Blake and Sun ran past her, followed by the Paladin and Alfredus. She ran after them, and soon Yang and Neptune were riding next to her. She kept pace for a little while, but she couldn't run that fast for long, even in her Trooper armor. They were on the highway now, Marion was falling further behind. She drew her Cherubim and tried to line up a hipshot. She couldn't shoot the Paladin, not with so many civvies around. Collateral would be too great. Still, she pressed on.

Ahead of her, Alfredus was having a much easier time of it. He easily kept pace with the giant warsuit, and let off a glob of plasma at it. The soup exploded against the mecha, and more shots came from behind Alfredus. Neptune jumped and speared the Mech, and Sun quickly followed up with his Semblance. As Sun pounced on the Paladin, Neptune was sent crashing into Sun, sending them over the railing. Alfredus stuck his power sword in the mech's leg and started climbing as Weiss fell down in front. The road turned to ice and the pair were sent hurtling down to the ground below. Right in front of Ruby and Zora. Alfredus jumped from the mech and landed behind them. He vented his plasma gun and locked his power sword as the rest of Team RWBY landed, accompanied by Sister Marion. For a moment, the combatants surveyed each other.

"Freezerburn!" Ruby shouted. She and Blake withdrew and Yang jumped up. Taking a clue from the cat and rose, the three Imperials withdrew to a more tactical position as Weiss iced the ground beneath them. When Yang's fist made contact, the ice powdered, throwing up a cold mist. The mech's targeting lasers could be seen visibly in the fog. The mech fired out a blast of plasma, hitting Blake and Yang as they came together. From the explosion Ruby and Alfredus flew, blades clashing against the cockpit. As Alfredus's power blade struck, sparks flew.

"Children, stand back! Let us deal with this!" Alfredus ordered.

"No, this is our fight! We're the ones who found him!" Ruby shouted back. "Checkmate!" She quickly ordered the maneuver.

Weiss and Blake rushed forward together, slashing at the mech's legs. Weiss disabled one of the targeting lasers, retreated, and drew Blake back with her.

"Recon units aren't supposed to be the main fighting force!" Alfredus shot back as he lobbed more soup at the Paladin. It exploded in a shower of blue sparks.

"Recon- wait, have you been following us?" Ruby was angry now. The Paladin fired on the retreating Weiss and Blake. A gout of fire flew over their heads, covering the right leg in burning promethium. A ball of plasma flew from the mech and landed a direct hit on Weiss. Before she fell, Weiss used her glyphs to stabilize Blake, and she cut through the rest of the missiles with ribbons of purple light. Marion rushed over to examine Weiss. As a combat medic, this was her specialty. "Ladybug!" Ruby charged forward, slashing at the mech between the legs. Blake charged the mech again, with her and Ruby constantly circling back and hitting its legs. Zora stood by, looking for a weak spot. She was armed only with a laspistol, which wasn't much good against a battlesuit. Blake and Ruby came down on the mech together, slicing an arm off at the elbow. Zora rushed to pick it up, as it would almost certainly be useful for her to study. Yang jumped on back of the mech, and started pummeling it. Alfredus's sword had already done a number against it, and Yang's shot gauntlets were powerful enough to send an alert to Roman inside. He ran the suit backward, crashing through a support pillar and squishing Yang against another. As she fell, Roman punched her through it with the mech.

"Yang!" Blake and Alfredus called out.

"Don't worry," Ruby explained. "Each time she gets hit she gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back."

"Really?" Zora asked. Zora then turned her laspistol on Yang and fired as she slowly climbed back to her feet.

"That's what makes her special." When the lasblast hit, Yang's hair immediately went up in flames. The mech threw another punch, which Yang countered, blocked with a punch of her own. Her eyes glowed red. With a hook, Yang destroyed the mech's other arm. Alfredus rushed over to Marion, who was still treating Weiss, and grabbed her Cherubim. Before she could do anything, Alfredus grabbed her Cherubim and got a bead on Yang's head. With a squeeze of the trigger, he sent out a burst of holy fire. Yang was now entirely on fire, and roman tried to punt her like an inflated grox bladder. When the foot connected, Yang slid for a few feet. She then wrenched the leg off. The mech, off balance, fell and Yang drove her fist into it. The thing shattered, and Roman climbed out, muttering about how he had just gotten the suit cleaned. Yang launched a blast from her gauntlets, blocked by a newcomer blocked it with a pink and brown parasol. She stood straight and rested her parasol on her shoulder.

"Ladies, Ice Queen,"

"Hey!"

"Neo, if you would." Neo bowed. Yang charged, but when her fist connected, Neo and Roman shattered like the mech. The roar of an engine was heard as the two flew away.

"Emperor damnit!" Alfredus cursed. "That's the girl James encountered last time!" Rounding on the students, he followed with, "If you four hadn't been here, I could've beaten them!"

"Then why didn't you with our help?" Yang shot back.

"I could've activated my null aura, but I couldn't with you here."

"Why not?" It was Weiss this time.

"It could've killed you."

"How? We have our aura-"

"If you would stop interrupting me, I would tell you." Alfredus waited for the girls to say something. When they didn't he continued. "Your aura is exactly why it would've killed you. The stronger a person's soul, the more they are affected by it." This widened the girls' eyes.

Slowly, Blake spoke up. "How exactly would that have helped?"

"It also cancels out Warp effects. Theoretically, that applies to aura and Semblances as well, since they come from the soul." The girls stood there for a few moments under Alfredus's baleful gaze before Ruby remembered something.

"During the fight, you called us recon units. Were you using us as bait to catch Torchwick?" Ruby said, indignation coming into her voice.

"No." Alfredus said flatly. "I overheard your plans from outside your dorm room-"

"But our dorm is near the top of the building! What were you doing outside our dorm in the first place?"

"I was walking back to campus. I overheard from the open window." Alfredus pointed to his ears. "Enhanced hearing. So, after I overheard your plans, I shared them with Marion and Zora, and we decided to tail you to make sure you didn't get hurt."

"We're training to become huntresses. We can handle ourselves." Yang said defensively. Her eyes had returned to their normal shade.

"You are still training. And I am sure you were unprepared for Roman to have a mech."

She girls were silent, unwilling to admit the truth.

"Where's Professor James? Why isn't he here?" Weiss asked.

It was Marion who answered. "He's still recovering from the poison. He's not fit to fight."

Before more questions could be asked, Zora said, "Come along now, its getting late. We should be heading back to Beacon." The others agreed, and started to head back. Zora then instructed them to grab as much of the mech as they could carry and bring it with them. She wanted to study the thing. As they walked back to Beacon, Ruby realized Sun and Neptune weren't with them. When she voiced this, everyone ignored her.

* * *

It was the day after Team RWBY had decided to snoop on Torchwick. Marion had gone to make a mission report to James about what had happened yesterday, but now she was furious. She had walked in to find out that he had bugged the students' dorms.

"You can't do that!" she shouted.

"Of course I can. I have reasonable suspicion-"

"That's not enough! You don't have any proof that any of them did anything wrong!"

"I was poisoned in the library. That means either one of the students did it, or the assassin sneaked onto campus, poisoned me, and then got out undetected. Ozpin may be incompetent, but he's not that incompetent."

"That doesn't allow you to just violate their Emperor-given human rights!"

"No, its that, combined with Inquisitorial authority-"

"You don't have Inquisitorial authority! The Inquisition was disbanded, remember?" James had to acknowledge that she was right. To do otherwise would be to reject the authority of the Emperor himself.

"I was still attacked. I That is reason enough to search."

"Reason enough to search, but not to spy on the students en masse. I don't know how it's done in the rest of the Imperium, but in Sector Aprior, we don't baselessly spy on the entire population."

James raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Then what do you call your genetic screening program?"

"That's different" Marion said defensively. "We tell the citizens why it's necessary and what could happen if they don't. That way they make an informed decision."

"Groxshit. You give them information designed to make them agree with you."

"We give them the truth." The fire that burned in Marion's lilac eyes betrayed the coldness of her voice. "That's better than you and your Grey Knights do."

"You know damn well I was against the forced sterilization programs."

"Were you?"

"Of course I was. Only those Emperor-damned Puritans supported it."

Marion glowered at him. "I'm having Zora debug all of the rooms. This will not happen again." The two glared at each other, neither daring to drop their gaze. Eventually, James consented. Technically, she did outrank him. She was a Sister of Battle, and he was just a schoolteacher. When she left, James fell back against his pillow. The poison really had done a number against him. Slowly, he drifted off into sleep.

* * *

Marion fumed as she walked down the hall towards Zora's residence, more commonly known as the Forge. _'_ _The entitled cur! What right did he have to go snooping around in other people's private affairs?'_ Marion took a deep breath. She had to remind herself that James was not Apriori, and had a different outlook on things. _'_ _He's also a Xeno Hybris Radical. Probably as close to Apriori values as we're going to get in the Inquisition.'_ She turned a corner and followed the hallway. _'_ _Still, he should at least respect the students' privacy rights.'_ She opened a door and took the staircase down. It was faster than the elevatums here. The Forge was located below ground and away from the school in case any volatile materials went up. As she walked along the long corridor, she considered how she got to where she was, her life before the Sororitas. She had had a different name then. It wasn't usual to change names upon joining, but she felt obligated to do so. They had done so much for her, provided her and her family a new home, it felt only right to rename herself after the Order's homeworld. When she was young, her father had a heart attack. The worst part was, he would likely have survived if he hadn't gotten run over by the ambulance that had come to take him to the hospital. Such an ironic twist of fate. It was part of what inspired her to become a combat medic. That, and a natural curiosity about the gooey red stuff inside people. She likely would have become a Biologos if she hadn't chosen the Sororitas instead. It was hard, but not impossible for a single income family to survive in Aprior. In fact, it was much easier than in the rest of the Imperium. But there were still a few lean years between that time and when she was able to take the Aprior aptitude test that singled her out for service. When she was accepted into the Order of Reason's Light, she took her mother and baby brother to Dvi-Marion with her. Marion was forced to stop recollecting when the door to the Forge appeared in front of her. She entered, preparing to tell Zora about the bugs.


	12. Chapter 12

**=][= For more information of the Aprior Sector and its inhabitants, please visit the Aprior Sector Timeline on 1d4chan. For the original writefaggortries, visit the "Heresy of the Reasonable Marines" and "Return of the Reasonable Marines" pages. For short stories about Aprior, visit "Tales From the Aprior Sector" =][=**

* * *

A Reasonable Crusade

Part II: Magnus Lux

Chapter V: The Dance

"Oh, you look beautiful!" Yang exclaimed as Ruby walked in. James smiled. Despite his apprehensions, the students had actually managed to organize the dance fairly competently. He wasn't the only one surprised. Amongst the students, he had a reputation for being as hard as rock, and even less friendly. So when he walked through the doors, wearing a white suit with a red jacket, with a pair of black cavalry boots and a white tie with alternating red and white roses, with a smile that was actually warm, the students were stunned. So stunned, it took them a few minutes to notice Alfredus, in his deep blue suit worn over his power armor, and Marion, wearing a blue silk dress with black trim and white lace, with two golden fleur-de-lis over her breasts. Zora of course wore her usual Mechanicus robes. She was only there to watch over the technology. She had managed to install machine spirits into the speakers, and she was there to keep them running. James hid a chuckle as he watched Ruby struggle to walk in heels. Perhaps this dance would not be so bad. He listened to the music as he walked along the upper ledge. It was a golden opportunity to show the students that he had a more friendly side. After all, soldiers fought better, harder, if they thought their leader cared for them.

James stayed mostly off to the side. He watched as the students danced and conversed. The music wasn't much different from highborn music, and was rather pleasant to dance to. Although, James preferred less traditional forms of music.

"Hey, James," James turned to look at Marion. "Aren't you going to dance?"

"No, I think I'm content to talk with students on the side. Encourage the loners to go out and participate."

Marion smiled. "If that's the case, then I think you should practice what you preach, sir."

"I'm an Inquisitor, since when do we ever do that?" James said lightheartedly. The next song started to play.

"However often, it apparently wasn't often enough." James internally winced at Marion's reminder of the Inquisition's disbandment. Its sting was embittered since he started feeling the loss of his Inquisitorial authority.

"Hold on, I think I recognize this song." James listened closer. Slowly, he began humming the tune. "This was my regimental march!" He recalled the days when he served in the Szcecian 88th Winged Hussars. The smile already on Marion's face grew. "You guys managed to get Imperial music onto the playlist?"

"Don't thank me, it was all Zora."

"Remind me to thank her later, then," James said, heading towards the dance floor. That was the students' second surprise for the night. Once on the dance floor, a ring started forming around him. As the song continued, James began to dance jig. At first, most students gathered around to see if he would fall, but he never did. _Damn, missed a step._ James thought, seamlessly recovering. The students never noticed. At one point, he had been one of the best dancers in the regiment, but it had been a long time since they had been "destroyed," and the lack of practice had rusted his skills. If the boys could see him now, they'd be laughing at how poorly he was doing. But that was among other Szcecians, these students likely couldn't tell the difference between the best and him if his performance had been twice as bad. Through the crowd of students, he caught a glimpse of Marion. Even she was shocked at his performance. As the song ended, so too did his little jig. Breathing only slightly heavily, okay maybe a bit more than slightly, since he had gone on with the jig at least a solid three minutes without pause, he made his way back to where Marion was standing. He took the punch she offered and drank. Unfortunately, it was punch made for kids, and therefor did not have any alcohol in it. Or, at least James viewed it as unfortunate.

"Well, I'll talk to you later, sir," Marion said, winding through the crowd to where Alfredus was standing. "Don't forget to thank Zora!" she called back before disappearing in the crowd of bodies. James smiled. He really needed more days like this. It had been a very long time since he had experienced this kind of happiness.

James surveyed the crowd. Peter Port and Bartholomew Oobleck, James wondered why anyone would ever share a name with such a vile creature, were talking. He chuckled at the pained expression on Glynda's face when Ironwood asked her to dance. James meant to avoid the other James as long as possible, to avoid spoiling the good mood. He reasonably certain that was what a fight between him and the General would do. Another song he knew came on. He recognized it as "March of the Tanith," a very odd choice for a dance. Actually, it was a very odd piece for anything other than marching or rallying troops. The many of the armsmen would have loved it. Although they were not from Tanith, their regiment had used the piece as its march. That was where he became familiar with it. As the song began, he could see Marion dancing with someone, no, not just any someone, it was Third-Lieutenant Gawyn. James looked around, making sure none of the other crewmen were here. After confirming there were none, he decided he would have a talk with Gawyn about leaving his post after the dance. The dance he and Marion were doing was slower, matched to the lyrics of the song, to which they sang along.

"Wow, she sings better than you, Weiss," Blake said, stunned.

"No she doesn't." Weiss snapped, "You just think that because she's singing more cheerful songs than I do."

"Close your mind to stress and pain, fight 'till you're no longer sane!" Marion swirled her skirts as she sang. Circling around each other, the two finished the next line together. They continued dancing, waiting for the next verse to begin. James decided to look around the balcony. He watched as the song continued, with both Marion and Gawyn singing. _'_ _Why doesn't she lead the choir during service?'_ James wondered. With a voice like that, he was surprised she didn't. The song ended and was replaced by the next one. It could go on like this forever, and James would hardly mind. Unfortunately, it could not. There was work to be done, as always. They had to integrate Remnant into the Imperium, find their way back to the Imperium, protect Remnant from Puritanical forces that would see them as dangerous, make sure Chaos stayed off the planet- James forced himself to stop thinking about that. It was a time for rest and relaxation, not work and stress.

James had spent a lot of time walking around, interacting with the students. He stuck to talking with the single ones, not wanting to break in on a couple having time together, but if they approached him, which, amazingly, some did, he didn't send them away. That would be rude. It would also poison his efforts to appear more caring towards the students. He spotted Zora through the crowd and walked over to her.

"Greetings, Artisan." James said as he approached her.

"Hello James," the priestess said, her eyelights beaming.

"I wanted to thank you for getting Imperial songs on the playlist."

"Think nothing of it. It was no problem for a servant of the Machine God."

"I suppose so. Well, I'll be going. You are here for work, not leisure, after all."

"Do not make unnecessary distinctions, Professor. To me, this is leisure. I believe the ancient Terrans had a saying like 'if you do what you love for a living, you never work a day in your life.'"

"Yes, I think I recall that. Well, it was nice talking to you, Zora." James turned to leave.

"Oh, I have a favor to ask of you."

James stopped. "What is it?"

"Can you bring Miss Rose to me?"

"Alright," with that, James left to look for Ruby. He found her on the balcony, talking with Yang.

* * *

"Except for that," Ruby said as James approached. James looked over the balcony to see what was causing the commotion. It appeared that one of the boys, no, not just any boy, it was Jaune Arc, had come to the dance in a dress. James thought he remembered seeing him wearing a suit earlier. He approached Pyrrha, who had by now stopped struggling to hold in her laughter. Surprisingly, she accepted his invitation to dance. The song that was playing now was much faster. As they walked out onto the dance floor, Nora and Ren joined them. They danced. James was impressed. They must've spent a while practicing the number, considering how flawlessly they pulled it off. They would make good soldiers.

Once Team JNPR's dance routine ended, James turned to Ruby. "Miss Rose, Artisan Zora would like to speak with you." With that, he walked off. Ruby was confused by his sudden announcement and departure. He had already left before she could ask him anything. Ruby looked around for Zora, not wanting to upset her favorite teacher. She found the Artisan by the speakers, looking as if she was having a conversation with them. Picking her way through the crowd, still wobbly on her heels. Eventually, Little Red found her way to Mechanical Red.

"You wanted to see me Artisan?" After a burst of binary, Zora paused her conversation with the speaker.

"Ah yes, Miss Rose. You have been very helpful since we have arrived, particularly with your technology." Ruby blushed slightly at Zora's praise. "You seem to have a great affinity for technology. In fact, you remind me somewhat of myself before I joined the Cult Mechanicus." Ruby's face was redder now, almost matching her namesake. "I was wondering if you would be interested in joining the Adeptus Mechanicus."

"Y-you want me to join the Mechanicus?"

"That is what I said."

Ruby considered for a moment. On one hand, joining the Admech would be very cool, they maintained the Imperium's technology, which was, for the most part, weapons. It would be like making so many new friends, especially because Imperial technology had Machine Spirits. Not to mention the augmentations. Her mouth salivated at the thought. On the other hand, she would be playing a support role. She would be maintaining equipment, while others went out to fight, to protect innocents. That was the entire reason she had wanted to become a Huntress, after all. Ruby reached a decision.

"I'm sorry Artisan. I'd love to, but I think I'd rather be a Huntress."

Zora's eyelights turned down in sadness. "Very well then. But remember, if you should ever change your mind, the offer still stands."

"Thank you, Artisan." Zora sent Ruby away and continued speaking with the speaker. It was very interesting how Imperial technology worked.

* * *

James watched the students from above. Ironwood had just left, along with the risk of running into the incompetent lout. It appeared nothing would go wrong at the party. Then James noticed something. Someone, who, frankly, looked a bit old to be a student, cut into Mercury and Emerald's dance. In fact, that someone looked strikingly similar to the woman from the robbery. But that was impossible. Surely Ozpin wouldn't be that incompetent. He was supposed to be the head of this planet's version of the Inquisition, after all. Still, he should probably keep an eye on her. He just had to keep his activities hidden from his Apriori companions. That would send them up in fits.

* * *

Elsewhere, a techpriest was watching _Super Deserter Gue'vesa Action Heroes_. He was streaming it from the CCTS and through a projector augmetic. Halfway through the video, around midnight, something happened. As the feed came from the Tower, a stray scrap of code implanted itself in the techpriest. The projector switched off of _SDGAH_ and displayed the image of a black queen chess piece. The techpriest began a horrid chant.

"We are the flames that scorch the garden of rot. We are the waves that erode the mountain of skulls. We are the quakes that shatter the labyrinth of lies. We are the storms that rend the palace of perfection. We are Malice." With that, he shut down the projector, and moved to do the will of the Queen.


	13. Chapter 13

**=][= Information on Knights Inductor can be found on the Knights Inductor, Reasonable Marines, Angry Marines, and Desert Fangs 1d4chan pages =][=**

* * *

A Reasonable Crusade

Part II: Ex Tenebra Lux

Chapter VI: Out of Vale

It was the morning after the dance. The freshmen would be getting their first missions today. Ozpin had received intel about possible White Fang activity in the region called Mountain Glen, and James was to bring his team, along with a student team of his choice, to investigate. Of course, they wouldn't tell the students what the mission really was, much to the displeasure of James's more open-minded teammates. Their entire system worked on being informed. The team he selected to accompany them was Team RWBY. He had already been charged with protecting them; he might as well keep them where he could do it actively.

* * *

James stood in the Valkyrie Represser as he waited for the girls. More were prepped, just in case they needed reinforcements, which James deemed highly unlikely. Still, it never hurt to be prepared. Today he was fully armed, including helmet, and lasgun. He didn't bring the bike or lance, or cane, for that matter, since their mission was to scout the ruins, not to engage hostiles. The bike would've been too loud, and the lance was practically useless without the bike. The saber was preferable to the cane on missions where they wouldn't be infiltrating high society. He looked over his team. Alfredus carried a bolt pistol, plasma gun, and power sword. Marion had both her flamer and Cherubim. Zora had just finished reassembling a hellgun. The Apriori still used them for their shock troops, since they had been isolated when the hotshot variant lasgun had been designed. James was still trying to figure out what exactly was the difference between a hotshot and a hellgun.

"Greeting, ladies!" James called as he saw Team RWBY approach. The look on their faces matched perfectly with his when he had learned that his regiment had been taken in by the Inquisition. "Let's get Daemon hunting! Double time!" The girls ran to get onto the Valkyrie.

"Proffesor Fletcher?" Weiss asked. She managed to hide the fear in her voice well.

"Yes. Although for this mission you may call me Lieutenant Fletcher."

"Don't you mean 'loo-tenant?'" Ruby asked.

"That's preposterous. Its 'left-tenant,' like the direction, not the shitter." The ramp of the Valkyrie drew up. "Now, get strapped in, ladies. It's time to brief you all on the mission." The girls just stood there. They would be going on a mission with one of the scariest teachers. The fact that he wasn't even a proper Huntsman only made it more disturbing. The Valkyrie shook as it took off, causing the girls to lose balance. "I warned you. Now strap in before you bust your fucking heads open." James had to shout in order to be heard. The girls rushed to strap in, the shaking of the craft unbalancing them. Once the girls were in, James began the briefing.

"There have been reports of large numbers of Grimm Daemons amassing in the Mountain Glen region. We are to scout the area in preparation for a larger force. Do not engage unless necessary. Understood?" After getting shouts of confirmation, James finished with, "Good. Now sit back and enjoy the ride!" Within the minute he was fast asleep.

* * *

"Is he asleep?" Weiss asked incredulously. How anyone could sleep in such a rickety rust bucket was beyond her. The other girls stared speechless. None of them could figure out how anyone could fall asleep with the Valkyrie shaking so violently, let alone so fast. They had never been in the Guard, after all. Soon Mountain Glen was in sight, and the Valkyrie flew over to a rooftop.

"Go! Go! Go!" James shouted, signaling the occupants to jump.

"Wait, when did he wake up?" Blake asked.

"Now is not the time for questions, Kitty. When I say go, go!" Each making their own noise, the members of Team RWBY made the short jump from Valkyrie to rooftop. James was the last one out. Alfredus and Zora were in front, each scanning the cityscape with their guns. Marion was just behind them, swinging her Cherubim around to cover from a distance. RWBY had their weapons ready to draw, and James looked down the iron sights of his lasgun. Once he was satisfied that there were no hostiles, he ordered the group to move out. They all kept their weapons at the ready, just in case. The marching order was James and Alfredus up front, followed by Zora with Marion behind her and Team RWBY acting as rear guard. A rustling came from behind the group. On the instant, they pivoted scanning for hostiles. What they found was Ruby struggling to shove a dog back into her pack.

"Sergeant Rose! What the Warp is that?" James barked as he approached the dog.

"Uhh,' Ruby managed to get out, before James continued.

"Is that a dog? What in the name of Holy Terra made you think it would be a good idea to bring a pet on a dangerous recon mission?" James shouted. He was acting more like a Sergeant than a Lieutenant.

Thinking quickly, Ruby said, "uhh, dog, dogs are known for being good hunters! He can track Grimm!"

"That's what Alfredus is here for. He can track them by scent, sight, and taste, far better than some mutt."

"I highly doubt that." Yang said.

Rounding on the blonde, James said, "Believe it, missy! That's Space Marine bioengineering for you!"

When the girls looked at Alfredus he gave a small nod. They stared in new found awe at the giant. "I suppose it's too late to send it back now. Might as well bring it along."

"Grimm!" Marion called. A burst of fire engulfed the Beowulf. The burning Beowulf let out a howl of pain, and soon the entire pack was there.

Leveling his lasgun, James said, "Damnit Marion, we're here to scout, not fight!" He roasted one after sending three balls of pulse energy through it. Alfredus sent out a glob of soup into the pack. It burst, taking out several. Zora managed to cook one with her flashlight, and RWBY rushed to engage. "That noise will bring more of them here! Run, damnit run!" The group broke into a sprint to flee the remainder of the pack, who was put down by a shot on the run from James. Once they were a distance away from the scene of the fight, they slowed to a walk. From then they trekked across the city, mapping out possibly useful positions. They eliminated what Grimm they encountered with brutal efficiency.

"Private Yang, tell me, why did you decide to become a Huntress?"

Yang was shocked by his sudden vocalization. "Well, to fight monsters, duh,"

"No. That is what you do. I want to know the why."

"I guess it's because I'm a thrill seeker. I want to travel around and get wrapped up in as many crazy adventures as possible. If I can help people along the way, then that's even better." James considered her answer. She would have to be watched, so she wouldn't fall to the excess of Slaanesh. They continued their trek. Later, he asked the same question of Weiss. She answered with the usual nonsense offered by nobles about "honor" and "reputation." The response he got out of Blake was one he did not expect.

"There's too much wrong in this world to stand by and do nothing. Inequality, corruption, someone has to stop it." Little did she know, what she just said summed up the Recongregators very well. She even provided the Recongregator response of "Um," when he asked how. They set up camp in an abandoned building. James dragged Ruby off to "secure the perimeter" while the others set up camp. Before he could ask Ruby the question he had asked the rest of her team, she asked it of him.

"So, uh, if you don't mind me asking," Ruby paused, looking a James hopefully. James nodded for her to continue. "Why did you want to become an Inquisitor?"

James laughed. It wasn't a happy laugh, but a bitter, rueful, laugh. "I did not chose to become an Inquisitor. The Inquisition chose me. The better question would've been why I became a Guardsman."

"Okay then," Ruby said, a little discomforted at the news that the Inquisition apparently press-ganged its members into service, "Why did you become a Guardsman?"

"Administratum fuck-up got me in the draft. Didn't even go in as a Lieutenant, had to work my way up from Private. Also, I like horses."

"Oh." Ruby said. She had hoped to get a better answer. She was also somewhat confused by the last part of his answer.

"Now, Ruby, it's your turn to tell me why you wanted to become a Huntress."

"Well, when I was younger my mom would always tell me stories about heroes and about how they would go out and save the world. I guess I wanted to be like that."

"You know, the real world isn't a fairy tale, Ruby."

"I know." Ruby was saddened by the unwanted dose of reality.

"But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to make it one." She brightened up at his words. They had now returned to camp. "Alright ladies, get some rest. Alfredus will be on first watch tonight."

* * *

Ruby was sneaking around Mountain Glen. She had snuck away from the camp undetected, following after Zwei. The dog had run off and she was trying to get him back before he got hurt. She found the dog relieving himself on the ruined buildings.

"Who's there?" a voice called. Ruby crouched, trying to avoid notice, despite being in the middle of the street. She quickly retreated to cover. Looking around the corner, she saw two White Fang scouts, talking. She had been heard, and they were trying to decide if what they heard was real or not. As the two walked away, Ruby stealthed after them.

* * *

Alfredus watched Ruby from above as she trailed the Faunus. She had not gotten away unnoticed, and he had put Marion on watch duty. She successfully followed the two to the base without being caught. Alfredus memorized the location so he could lead the teams back to it in the morning. As Ruby turned to head back to camp, the street collapsed from beneath her. She tossed the dog up, and the slab of concrete she was holding onto fell.

"Marion! Wake the camp! Ruby's fallen down a hole!" Alfredus whispered into his vox.

"On it!" came Marion from the other side.

Alfredus considered following after her. He decided against it, deeming it safer to wait for reinforcements.

* * *

Marion shouted. "Everyone! To arms! Ruby is in danger!" Zora and James both woke instantly and smoothly, but the girls were startled. They scrambled for their weapons. "Move! Move! Move!" Everyone was running after Marion. They had no incentive for stealth, so arrived at the hole quickly. They found Alfredus peering over the edge.

"Marine! Report!" James shouted.

"Ruby fell in and was captured by two White Fang members. There's a ledge not far below. We can safely make the jump."

James nodded. He jumped into the hole, and came to a roll when he landed, He could see no hostiles with the sensors on his helmet, but he kept his lasgun raised anyways. The others followed. The doors opened.

"What the-" the two guards that came through were put down quickly with shots from Yang. Alfredus rushed to pull open the doors before they could close fully. The girls were astonished at how someone in such bulky armor was able to move so fast. Cries of panic swelled up as Alfredus pried open the doors. One of the White Fang Sergeants managed to knock some sense into his underlings and they opened fire on the marine. They were too slow, he had already opened the doors, letting the others rush in. James skewered one on his bayonet, and Marion roasted a cow Faunus with her flamer. This prompted a comment from Yang along the lines of "now that's what I call roast beef." In a few seconds, the cargo bay was full of burnt and bloodied corpses, and James was drenched in gore. He didn't have a power bayonet, so the blood didn't cook off.

"Alright, fan out and search for Ruby!" James ordered. The teams made their way through the boxes looking for the little girl. More White Fang members approached from the other side.

"Incoming hostiles. Engage at will," James called. Stub rounds flew through the air around him, forcing him to duck behind a crate. When he lifted his head over the edge, he saw the advancing Fang members. RWBY rushed them and JAMZ stayed behind, providing overwatch as the other team advanced. Fire burst from Marion's Cherubim and soup was launched at the Faunus from Alfredus's plasma gun. Lasblasts from Zora's flashlight even managed to take down a few. Then RWBY was amongst them, and the Fang was routed. JAMZ charged after the fleeing Faunus. They turned a corner to see Torchwick holding Ruby. Taking advantage of the distraction, Ruby got away from Torchwick. He and the Fang members around him fired after her, but none hit. Torchwick said something to the Faunus, and left.

The group collected Ruby and Alfredus gave her sythe back. A screech echoed through the cavern.

"Everyone, get to your stations, we are leaving now!" The train began to pull away. Without being told, the eight sprinted for the train.


	14. Chapter 14

A Reasonable Crusade

Part II: Magnus Lux

Chapter VII: The Enemy and the Ally Beyond

The Glorious, Eternal, and Immortal Man-Emperor of Mankind watch James's shenanigans in the Black Library. Cegorach was with him, chuckling quietly.

"I swear, the more I watch this the more it seems familiar. I just can't figure why," the Emperor said, as he watched Team JAMZ and Team RWBY board the train. "Bah, I'll figure it out eventually. Made any progress on getting through Malice's shield?"

Cegorach nodded. "Yes. All we need to do now is decide who to send."

The Emperor grunted. He remembered the last time they had this discussion.

* * *

"Damn it all!" Tzeentch screamed.

"What is it now?" Bubbled Nurgle.

"The Anathema has done it! He has broken through! While we are still trapped here!" Nurgle's smile lessened. It never seemed to go away entirely, just got bigger or smaller. The blue bird and pile of disease were alone in the room. Khorne and Slaanesh had gotten into another one of their fights, and Isha was out in the Garden of Pestilence. "If we can find a way to use his portal, we won't need to make our own. We can just send our troops in from there. The only problem is, the portal is out of our reach."

"Do you want me to see if Isha can convince them to let us in?"

"No Nurgle. I doubt that would work. Besides, if you sent her off like that she'd probably just run away." Nurgle was hurt. How dare this fiend insult his perfect Eldar waifu.

"She wouldn't do that. You don't know her like I do." Nurgle was wrong, of course. Tzeentch knew that. She would bolt the moment she got the chance.

* * *

"Oi Gork! You done beatin the spikey boy's shield yet?" Mork shouted, in his usual Ork accent.

"Not yet! But it'll come down soon. I just knows it!" Gork shouted back, also with Ork accents. "Then we can has lots of fun!" Of course, by "fun" Gork meant "fights." Although, to an Ork, there is no difference between the two.

* * *

"Just as planned" muttered Malice. He watched from the hole in reality. Everything was going perfectly. That in itself presented problems, which he would have to fix. Once Cinder was able to use the Remnant artifacts to summon him, he would be unstoppable. He would destroy Remnant, then not even the combined efforts of the Four, the Eldar, the Orks, the C'tan, and the Anathema would be able to stop him. He would be free, and the galaxy, no, the universe, would burn! But now there was that small issue of things going perfectly. He decided that he would have to sabotage his plans. He went over his Remnanti assets and was surprised. He had come into possession of a techpriest. That would through a wrench into his plans. Malice smiled. He knew exactly what he would do.

* * *

The techpriest flew into Vale on a bullhead. He had two combat servitors with him. He had gotten them past the guards by saying that he was bringing them to the South East border of the city, where there had been reports of a possible Grimm attack. The fool guard actually believed him. He could barely contain his excitement. He had only been enlightened by his new master, the Renegade, yesterday and now he was performing a mission of vital urgency. It felt so nice to have the favor of his God. The bullhead landed and the heretek lead the former Ogryns out into the city. Citizens looked on, appalled as he led the heavy-stubber wielding servitors through the city. He searched for a spot where as many civilians as possible could be sacrificed before authorities could respond. He found his way to main street, and it was teeming with people. He figured this would be go enough.

"For the Renegade God!" He shouted, then opened up with the two combat servitors. The heavy-stubbers opened up, dropping civilians as the stubs hit their unprotected flesh. The heretek screamed with glee as he did the will of Malice. In the span of a few seconds, the day had gone from celebrations of peace and the end of the Great War, to a massacre. Already the street ran red with blood, and the heretek continued his path of destruction. By now, the street was deserted, so the heretek had the servitors pepper shops with stubs, causing panicked shrieking inside. The frightened civilians came flodding out, right into the spray of stub rounds. Limbs flew, and blood drenched the walls. They were shooting normal stub rounds, not bolts. It was just the sheer weight of fire that turned Vale's main street into bloody fresco. A police cruiser appeared, and was quickly burning, after the heretek pointed his servitors' four heavy-stubbers at it. He cackled as the officers died inside, without even the chance to escape.

"Take the rot, to make it flesh. Take the skull, the soul to rest. Take their mind and give them peace. Take their will. Sensations cease." The heretek looked on as more started approaching. He quickly took cover inside a restaurant, killing everyone who hid inside it. One tried to make a stand, rushing at the heretek with a steak knife. The heretek put him down by biting out his throat and drinking the blood as it flowed out, right in front of the other customers. The blood dribbled down his chin as the servitors painted the walls red. He remembered the police force outside, and turned the servitors around. Police cruisers had formed a rind around the shop, with officers using the doors as cover. The had various weaponry ranging from shotguns to pistols leveled at him.

"Death to the Corpse's slaves! Glory to the Renegade!" The servitors opened up, unleashing a hail of stubs. The police opened fire, scoring hits on the servitors. It didn't really matter, as long as they kept firing. Which they did. Glass shattered, doors were ripped of hinges, and soon not one officer stood. He cackled madly. The heretek lead his servitors out and across the street, before more could arrive. He was just in time, as soon as he had hidden from street view, two armored vans pulled up. They still thought he was holed up in the restaurant, and they disgorged their contents right in his line of fire. They were accompanied by a few Atlesian soldiers. He waited for all of the armored officers to exit before firing. They had been expecting the stubs to come from in front of them, not behind, and many were mowed down before they had a chance to respond. Unfortunately, the Atlesians' armor protected them from the initial volley. The survivors hid behind the armored vans and started to return fire. For the most part, their stub rounds did little, but the Atlesians' lasguns were actually doing damage. More vans pulled up and were sending out more soldiers. Many died, but the damage was starting to accumulate. Then he heard it. The sound of fliers. He had the servitors stand down, and raised his hands above his head.

"I surrender," the heretek called out. He slowly approached the Atlesians on his knees. They approached cautiously. They were about to place handcuffs on him when he activated the servitors again, this time aiming at the fliers.

"I lied! For the Renegade God!" he cried, mechandrites grabbing one of the soldiers as he pulled the other in front of him, using him as a shield. Slowly he began to pull on the limbs of the soldier he had in his mechandrites, first dislocating each of them, them ripping them out wholly. Once they were ripped off, he brought the limbs to his mouth and dug in. The flesh, it tasted so good, so unholy. Just how Malice liked it. Lastly, he cracked the quadriplegic corpse's head open and drank the juices inside. One of the fliers fell from the hail of stubs, falling right towards him. As it crashed, he was engulfed in a fiery explosion, and his massacre ended. Many of the officers on the ground died in the crash's resultant explosion. How quickly had this day gone from one of celebration to one of mourning. The day's events would produce trouble for negotiations between the Kingdoms and the Imperium, though it was somewhat lessened by reports of what the techpriest had said. Perhaps "lessened" is not the right word, but rather "changed." At first the tension came from what appeared to be an Imperial attack on Vale, but the Sister in charge of negotiations managed to convince the city council that the attack was done by a renegade, a traitor. Which was true, the heretek had declared for Malice during the attack. This only shifted the tension to calls to "make sure it doesn't happen again," calls with which the Imperials were all too ready to comply with, they just lacked the means to. But they would still try their best. This was a problem they had been trying to solve for ten millennia.

* * *

"Dohohohohoho!" The Warmaster chuckled. He watched from the keyhole into reality as the heretek did his works. "You actually got my father's slave to do this? Without any support?"

"You bet." Malice grinned.

"I must admit, that was one of the greatest things I've seen while in here." Horus had been "here," which is, the realm outside of existence, for a very long time. He didn't recall how long, not as long as Malice, obviously, but long enough to see the arrival of the Pariahs and Tomb Kings. The Tomb Kings greatly interested Horus. They used the power of the Warp to reanimate dead flesh, and they did it not through Nurgle, but by Tzeentch. Horus was familiar with Nurgle's zombie plague, but that produced mindless beings hungering only for flesh. The Tomb King's not only retained intelligence, but also autonomy, even if their subjects were closer to plague zombies. Grudges they had in life carried over to undeath, to fester for all time. Until the End Times, where everyone, including the Wood Elves, who Horus thought seemed like Exodite Eldar, and Orcs fought against Chaos, but still lost. Just more evidence of the superiority of Chaos. Even if this Archaon guy was infinitely better than "Failbaddon the Armless," as he was sometimes known. When Horus thought about it, these Tomb Kings seemed culturally similar to the metal Necrons. Now their world was gone, but parts had reformed, even if some had been condemned to eternal nothingness. He still found it ridiculous that Slaanesh had been kidnapped by two Elves. It was just ridiculous! No matter, there were other things to be done.

"When you escape from this non-existence, will you be bringing us with you?" Horus asked.

The Renegade only laughed. "I might be the God of suicidal tendencies, but I'm not that suicidal. If I bring you back, the Four may get their shit together before my plans are complete." Horus was sad. He would've struck out at Malice if it would've done anything. Non-existence seemed to make it harder to meaningfully hurt things, especially non-entities as powerful as Malice. If only his father had not banished him to this prison outside of reality. If only he had accepted his forgiveness. Then he could've stayed alive and worked to undermine his father from behind the scenes, carefully rebuilding all that had been lost. Then Chaos would surely conquer the galaxy, and he could strike down his father once and for all. Alas, he had underestimated him. Even so close to death, the Emperor had been powerful enough to banish him here. Even with all the blessings of the Gods. At least he had crippled the old fool. Even so, his plan to prevent the Imperium's degeneration to Emperor-worship had failed. His father had already planted the seeds of it in the population, and he had been too late to stop it.


	15. Chapter 15

A Reasonable Crusade

Part II: Magnus Lux

Chapter VIII: Trains

James fired his bolt pistol. "All units, White Fang moving in on Vale. Please respond. Over"

After a burst of static, he got a response. "I hear you, Professor. Any more info? Over."

"Yes. They're using a train loaded with explosives to blast a hole in the wall. Coming in from Mountain Glenn." James ducked as a stub round flew past him. "Stand by for further updates. Over."

"Acknowledged. Over" The vox went silent. He, Weiss, Blake, and Yang were advancing through the interior of the train, while Ruby, Alfredus, Marion, and Zora traveled along the rooftops. Torchwick had used bombs to open the tunnels up for Grimm, and they were following the train at an uncomfortable pace. He lead the three girls to the next car. This one was clear. They continued doing this, moving up the train. The others were further behind, having just taken down two Paladin mechs. James entered the next car first, bolt pistol and power saber raised. In it was the young girl who had assisted Torchwick escape twice. Yang requested that they advance without her. James consented. Surely Yang wouldn't lose to a small girl with a parasol. He led the two remaining girls past and into the next car. If he could see the fight happening in the car he had just exited, he would have realized his mistake. A White Fang Sergeant carrying an Eviscerator approached. This time, Weiss elected to stay behind. He and Blake pressed on, leaving Weiss to deal with the Ministorum wannabe.

"Hello, Pops. Prefer the kitty to the rose, do we?" Torchwick stood there, twiling his cane.

"Deal with him. I'll go ahead and stop the train." James fired his bolt pistol, forcing Torchwick to take cover. He ran ahead before the king pin could recover and found himself in the next car. What he saw chilled his blood. Of all the things he had come to expect on Remnant, this was most definitely not one. The massive black-and-white armored form turned to look at James. His head hurt as he looked at the black-and-white skull on the eight-pointed star on the creature's pauldron.

"Ah, Inquisitor. At last we meet." The creature's voice grated on the inside of James's head. Fear possessed him and he wanted to run. But he knew that would only lead to him being captured. He would have to force the traitor to kill him. "We are not so different. We have both dedicated our lives to the fight against Chaos." James snarled.

"I will never join you, traitor."

"Why do you insist on serving the Corpse. He has abandoned you here. I offer refuge, and the ability to purge the galaxy of Chaos."

"Lies! Nothing you say can tempt me from the path of honor. Your doom has come, heretic." James charged the traitor. In a flash, the heretic had his chain axe out, blocking James's slash. The heretic grabbed James and threw him through the back door. The door shut, there was a bang, and a flash of light.

James awoke to the sound of bolter fire. He lied stretched across a pile of rubble. His power armor saved him. He struggled to his feet, and saw that the armsmen had fortified and evacuated the area around the expected breach. Heavy bolter emplacements spat death to the incoming Grimm. Remembering where he was, and, more importantly, what had just happened, he made his way to the defense line. He waved off the bows before they could begin. Alfredus, Marion, and Zora had gotten to their feet and were already at the line. RWBY was just recollecting themselves.

James instructed the vox-trooper to message the ship for reinforcements from the Astartes.

"But why sir?" The trooper asked. "We can hold the line against however many Grimm come out." James grabbed the trooper by the throat. He wanted to reprimand the trooper for questioning his orders, but that would have to wait. It wouldn't do for the heretics to come out and kill everyone before the Knights Inductor arrived.

"Because there's more than just Grimm out there. The have traitor Astartes!" The vox-trooper's, no, all the Imperials who heard, faces went pale. The vox-trooper did as he was told. Then the forms began to emerge. The heavy-bolters opened fire, taking down a few. Too few. Then James noticed that RWBY hadn't gotten behind the defense line yet. In fact, they were squaring up to fight the traitors. James rushed out to collect them.

"Get back!" He called out. "You don't know what you're dealing with!" RWBY ignored him. The first to go down was Blake. She tried to engage one in melee, and when he swung his chaotic axe around, she used her Semblance to jump out of the way. Except, when the axe cleaved her shadow clone in two, Blake crumpled as well, a large gash running blood down her head. He rushed over to drag her back to friendly lines. Weiss was doing little better, but when she tried to trap their weapons in ice, the cut through like it was nothing. When Yang tried to rush one, he just grabbed her and tossed her back behind the defense line. Ruby tried to use her scythe to block an overhead swing from a chainsword, but the barrel bent under the weight of the blow, sparks flying into Ruby's face. James picked up Blake's unconscious form as the heavy-bolters kept the marines off him. He saw a trail of rose petals rush past him, followed by Weiss using her glyphs to speed her up. When he jumped the line, Marion came rushing to take the wounded catgirl from him. Even with the heavy weapons and Alfredus's plasma gun, the ranks of the traitors advanced. The armsmen began pouring lasfire into them, which did little more to the traitor's armor than flashlights. Even Zora's hellgun did little. James used his bolt pistol, at this range it was more effective than his lasgun. As the traitors marched closer, James heard the sound of their salvation. There could not have been more than twenty traitors at first, but they cared little for whether or not they lived. They were slaves to Chaos. A shock wave sent James stumbling back. A few of the troopers had fallen down, but were starting to get up. When James looked, the Space Marine Sergeant stood amidst the traitors, in a brand new crater, spiky armor cracked under his hammer. Four more shapes fell from the sky, bolters firing, chainswords revving. One died before he landed. The heretics charged, bringing their weapons down on the loyalists. Alfredus fell on the heretic's rear. Chainsword ground against armor, and chainaxe did likewise. Each blow from the Sergeant's thunderhammer sent a shockwave out, stumbling the heretics, and killing one. Marines on both sides fell, and soon the Sergeant found himself and Alfredus against the marine James had fought before.

"Fools! You serve the False Emperor in slavish obedience, while Chaos tears your Imperium apart! But there is a different choice. With Ma-" the Sergeant ended the traitor's heretical ramblings by sending his hammer through the marine's head. When the fighting was over, three medics ran out to retrieve the fallen Astartes' gene-seed. They were Apriori, each cross-trained to fit seamlessly with other Apriori forces. It made sense that their medical training would include how to correctly remove and store gene-seed. Hunter reinforcements were just now starting to arrive. Blake had been stabilized, and Yang was back on her feet. JNPR landed, and looked around, a little disappointed that the fight had ended before they got there. Sun and Neptune arrived just as the Valkyries landed. James instructed the standing Hunters to help with the wounded, which consisted of mostly small cuts and bruises from the shockwave produced by the thunderhammer, aside from Blake's head wound and Yang's concussion. Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald appeared, looking confused as well. CFVY dropped in from one on the native's airships. They looked less confused, and went to take guard at the breach. The Professoers arrived, and Glynda started to replace the rubble with her riding crop. The damage was undone quickly, and the Valkyries withdrew to Beacon, carrying as many armsmen and students as they could. Yang and Blake were loaded onto one of the native transports, those being a much more comfortable ride than the shaky Valkyrie Avengers. James went over the casualty list. Ten armsmen had died from heretic boltguns, with no wounded. There would've been more, if more of the traitors had brought some instead of two, arming the rest melee weapons.

* * *

Blake struggled to open her eyes. When she got them open all the way it took her a moment to realize where she was. "What happened?" she moaned to the empty room. She blinked. Perhaps the room was not as empty as she originally thought. "What?"

"I said, you got fucked up." Blake would've rolled her eyes if it didn't make her head swim.

"Can you please be more specific, Lieutenant?"

"First, tell me what the last thing you remember is."

Blake tried to recall. It only made her head hurt a little more than it already did. "The … thing,"

"Traitor marine," James supplied.

"Right, traitor marine, well I remember him swinging at me, and I dodged out of the way with my Semblance. But when his axe struck the shadow, something hit my head. It went straight through my aura!"

"Nothing hit your head Blake. That thing you felt was the traitor's axe."

"But how? It hit my Semblance, not me."

James let out a long breath. "In order to explain this properly, I'll need to go over some Imperial history. You remember my lecture on the second day, about the dangers of religious freedom?"

Blake started to nod, but stopped as her head swam. "Yes," she said, holding her head.

"And about the Chaos Gods?" Again, Blake responded in the positive.

"I must admit that I lied when I said there were only four Chaos Gods. The four I talked about are the main Chaos Gods and together make up Chaos Undivided, but there is another, a fifth Chaos God. His name is Malice." A chill ran down Blake's spine. "He represents Chaos's tendency to turn against itself. When the Four stand united, he weakens, when they fight each other, he grows stronger."

"But if he fights the Four, doesn't that make him a good guy?"

"Emperor no! He'll fight against Order as quickly as against Chaos."

"But what does this have to do with what happened to me?"

"I'm getting there, just be patient." So Blake was patient. "What you fought was a traitor marine of the Sons of Malice chapter. They use anti-Daemon Daemon-axes, and wear Warp-resistant Warp-armor. This sounds incredibly stupid, which is part of why I didn't speak of him during the lesson, until you remember that, as worshippers of Malice, the Chaos God of Batshit Insane Self-Destructive Tendencies, they would use weapons specifically designed to counter Daemons, powered by their God's Daemons. And since the Warp is the realm of souls, which is what powers aura and Semblances, the effects of anti-warp weaponry would have similar effects against Semblances. So when the axe hit your Semblance, the damage carried over partially. Warp and aura aren't entirely the same."

"But what are they doing on Remnant?"

"Honestly, we don't know, but I suspect that they maybe somehow affiliated with the Grimm Daemons. If so, it would explain why my ship didn't detect any Chaotic corruption. Well, I shouldn't keep your teammates waiting. They're very worried about you." With that he got up and left.

"Wait no I still have-" the door closed behind him. "-questions." The door opened again. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang walked in. Ruby was about to say something, but closed her mouth. She started shaking, as she tried to contain a smile. Weiss and Yang were shaking too.

"What's so funny?" Blake asked. She had no idea why her Team would be laughing at her.

"Blake, you look like a skunk." Ruby said. She had lost her composure now.

"What do you mean-" Blake slowed as Weiss grabbed a mirror and help it up to show her. There was a white stripe running across her hair, right between her ears. "I look like skunk!" Blake cried. Her voice made her head hurt. At that time, Marion came bustling in, carrying a tray.

"Oh good, your awake!"

"What did you do to my hair?" Blake asked. Outside, a passing student heard and thought it was Yang. He ran off, as it is never pleasant to be around Yang when someone touches her hair.

"Ah, that, yes. You had a serious head-wound. We had to use a special Sister-developed treatment to keep you alive. It leaves little to no scars, with the side effect of turning hair white. We're not entirely sure why it does that."

"You performed a medical operation on me, with side effects caused by who-knows-what, on me, without my consent?"

"I assumed you would rather have a stripe of white hair than be dead. Don't worry, the procedure is perfectly safe. Just look at me." Marion said, displaying her hair.

"Wait, that's not your natural hair color?" Weiss asked.

"Of course not. No one has naturally white hair."

"I do!" Weiss stamped her foot. She was indignant at being called unnatural. Marion blinked. It was just another difference between the Remnanti and baseline humans.

"Interesting," was all Marion said. She would like to see the results of Weiss's genetic screening once they got the medical facilities built. But that was still years in the future.


	16. Chapter 16

**=][= I've decided how this will end. It will have five to six parts, depending on how much I depart from canon events in part four. =][=**

* * *

A Reasonable Crusade

Part III: Lux Perpetua

Chapter I: The Tournament

James looked at the picture. It was of his family from Szcecia. A hand drawn picture, the pencil lines captured them perfectly. It had taken a bit of money to get an artist that good. His father stood behind the three children, wearing a fur-lined red coat with an Aquila on it, and the Szczecian Crown. He had his arm around James's mother, Wiktoria, who stood next to him, wearing her own coat, this one purple with gold embroidery. The three children sitting in front of them were his little sister, Hedwig, himself, and his older brother, Władyslaw. His brother was originally the heir to the governorship, but was killed in one of the frequent Tau invasions of his homeworld. He was reported to have died leading the final charge against the invaders, driving them back at the cost of his life. The night of his death there was feasting throughout the capitol, to commemorate his valiant sacrifice. It didn't bring his brother back though. It had been a long time since he had shed tears for his fallen brother and lost family. After all, Lady Death visits everyone, what difference does a few decades make? James put the picture away.

Now was not the time for frivolous wonderings. Nor was it the time to be fighting in tournaments, but Ozpin had insisted, and James didn't have the authority to tell him no. The rules for who could enter the tournament were lax, so he had been able to get in no problem, and so had the rest of his Team. So, instead of working on finding the Queen's hide out, he found himself riding around in circles around three fourths of a Team, pouring pulse rounds into them, while Marion sat on top of a mountain with her Cherubim, and Alfredus and Zora kept them in James's circle. They didn't particularly want to want to fight Alfredus, especially not after he had just tossed one out of the ring, but when they tried to attack Zora, who just stood there making beeping noises, their weapons would jam. Each time they tried to escape by going over, Marion would send a gout of flame at them. Admittedly, it wasn't a very entertaining strategy to watch, but it was more entertaining than Alfredus activating his null aura. It was also decidedly less lethal. He watched as the remaining opponents' aura dropped. His Team had no aura, instead linking their armor's life support display to the big screen. The crowd was stunned as this Team who didn't even have aura absolutely annihilated one that did.

"And that's the match!" Port called as the last's aura dropped below the marker. "Team JAMZ wins the match!"

As Team JAMZ headed towards the fairgrounds, they talked about who they would send to the next round. Many arguments were presented, some for sending the two strongest, some for the two weakest. James ardently refused any plan the put him in the arena again, on account of "I may not be in the Inquisition any more, but as a member of Ozpin's Group I have Inquisition-esque work that needs to be done." By the time they actually got to the fairgrounds, they had decided to send Marion and Zora to the doubles round. The fight hadn't been real exerting or anything, but it was lunch time, and James had skipped breakfast, hoping to get an early start on his "Ozquisitorial" work. He left his Team to go do whatever it is that they do when he isn't with them.

After looking through all the tents a few times, James muttered, "Would it kill them to sell some fucking pierogi?" Apparently it would, as they didn't sell any. They didn't sell any alcohol, either. James eventually settled for Chogoran food. He walked over to a noddle stand he had passed earlier, and found that the burden Ozpin had dumped on him was there.

"I'll cover it." He said, walking up. The Schnee girl's card had been declined, and the old man running the stand was taking the food back, leaving a much distraught Blake.

"You don't have to," Yang said.

"But he could!" Blake followed.

"It's fine. A Gen-Professor has to keep his sol-students fed." Team JNPR walked up. "I can cover theirs too."

Once they finished the noodle bowls, Ren asked, "Are you sure it's a good idea to eat before a match?"

"I'm not going to the doubles round," James said.

The students were surprised. "But surely your team would send you? Aren't you one of the better fighters?"

"We saw how badly we beat the other Team and decided it would be better if we sent our weaker fighters. To keep it interesting."

Jaune moaned, and said that if he vomited he would blame them. Nora suggested he aim it at the enemy.

"Now, if you will excuse me, I have work to do." James said as he left. He hurried back to the landing pads in front of Beacon as quickly as he could. The files he needed were stored in his ship's cogitators. As he rode in the bumpy Valkyrie Avenger back to _Black Rose_ , James decided for what must've been the thousandth time since arriving on Remnant that he would need to have a word with Mars about supplying the Knights Inductor with proper Stormravens. These modified Valkyries just didn't fly as smooth. He extracted the necessary documents and had a servitor-scribe write up the information. Collecting the documents, he went planetside. He had a lot of work ahead of him, and he needed something to drink. He wandered into a local bar and ordered the strongest drink they had. He took out his documents, all in his native Szczecian. The bartender made a comment about the fight, which James ignored. The man sitting a few seats away merely grunted. The next round came and went.

"Now that was a match," the bartender said, cleaning a glass.

"That was a mess," the other man said.

"Highly unprofessional," James agreed.

"C'mon, you didn't like that match, the Vale kids, or any of the rounds before that. What fight are you here for?" The bartender asked the man.

The sound of one of Atlas's airships grew, and the man, after draining his glass, said, "That one." When he got up, he was clearly drunk. He left some Lien on the counter and wished them a happy Vytal festival. James recognized the ship as belonging to one of Ironwood's Specialists. He figured he should follow, to make sure things didn't get out of hand. He drained his glass, picked up his documents, paid, and left, following the drunken bastard.

Following the man, James found himself at Beacon. He stumbled behind two robots, which, when James asked about later, were revealed to be just that, and not Abominable Intelligences. He disabled one and ripped the head off another before rolling it along the ground.

"Hey!" he shouted. The two he was following, James could see Weiss and someone he assumed was the Specialist, turned, along with two more robotic guards. "Yeah, I'm talking to you, Ice Queen." The guards advanced, but the Specialist ordered them to stop. Weiss advanced in their place.

"Excuse me," she said. There was a pause as she got up under the drunkard. "Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"

He put his hand over her face, and telling her to shush, said, "Not you." He pushed her out of the way, prompting a cry of indignation from Weiss and he took a few steps towards the Specialist. James drew and racked his bolt pistol, just in case. "You." He said, staring her directly in the eye. "Saw that gaudy ship of yours in town. Guess you're here too."

"I'm standing right before you."

"So it would seem."

"You realize you just destroyed Atlas military property." It was not a question.

Too sincere to be anything other than sarcastic, the drunkard said, "Oh, oh, I'm sorry. See, I mistook this for some sort of sentient garbage."

"I don't have time for your immature games, Qrow." So that was the drunkard's name.

"Wait, you too know each other?" Weiss asked, coming up to her sister.

"Gee, you Atlas Specialists think you're so special, don't you?"

"It's in the title."

"Well, you know what you really are?" Qrow answered his own question. "A bunch of sell-outs. Just like your boss."

"I'm not sure what you think you're implying, but I've heard enough."

"Oh, I heard too. I heard Ol' Ironwood finally turned his back on Ozpin." _'_ _How could he know about that?'_ James thought. _'_ _Ozpin didn't tell me until yesterday.'_

"Ozpin?" Weiss asked.

"Weiss, it's time for you to go," the Specialist said, shoving Weiss out of the way.

"Listen to Big Sister, Weiss, she'll protect you. Just like Atlas is going to protect all of us." Qrow stumbled. James raised his bolt pistol to the back of his head.

"Enough, both of you," he called out. Qrow turned around.

"What's this? Someone looking to impress Ice Queen?"

"That insult has been thrown at me too much lately," James said, recalling what Torchwick said each time showed up to fight him with a young female. "As a Professor at Beacon, it is well within my authority to stop any fights from breaking out."

"Then why don't you put your gun away, Mister Teacher."

"What do you mean 'insult?'" Qrow and the Specialist asked at the same time. The Specialist was furious.

James elected to answer the Specialist's question first. "I'm just getting a little annoyed with how often its insinuated that I like girls multiple decades younger than me. It doesn't help that now its multiple people doing it. And, no, I will not put my pistol away." James kept his pistol leveled at Qrow. "Now, you two are going to stay right here while I vox Ozpin." James motioned for the Specialist to come closer. When she didn't he only said, "Specialist Schnee, I do not want to have to get you. It would be very humiliating for you." His other hand drifted to his saber. James pulled out his scroll and called Ozpin.

"What is it, Professor Fletcher?" Ozpin sounded tired.

"Nothing, just a stopped a fight from breaking out between a 'Qrow' and Specialist Schnee. Oh, and please inform Ironwood too." The color drooped from the Specialist's face as she heard what he said. Reluctantly, she walked over to where he was.

"He's here with us, we'll be right down."

James smiled at the two offenders.

"Uncle Qrow!" a voice shouted as a trail of red flew to the man. Ruby was wrapped on his arm. "Did you miss me? Did you miss me?" she squealed excitedly. Almost as excitedly as when she got to see a new weapon.

"Nope."

"Miss Rose, if you, will please leave Mr. Qrow alone until after Ozpin has spoken with him." Ruby immediately fell off Qrow's arm.

"Yes, Professor," she said as she quickly walked away.

"She's got a wily spirit. Not easy to tame. How'd you do it?" Qrow asked.

"That information is classified." James got only a grunt in response. "General. Headmaster. Professor." James greeted the three as they approached.

"What the hell is going on?" Ironwood asked as he approached.

"Qrow and Specialist Schnee here were fighting. I stepped in before it could come to blows."

"Is this true, Specialist?" The Schnee was silent. "With me." He turned and walked back to Beacon, the Specialist following. Qrow chuckled at her misfortune.

"Qrow. A word." Ozpin gestured, and Qrow followed. Glynda dispersed the rest of the crowd.

In Ozpin's office, they had a conversation.

"What were you thinking?" the Specialist asked angrily as the elevator door opened.

"If you were one of my men, I would have you shot."

"If I was one of your men, I'd shoot myself." Qrow said, pulling his flask out. James, looking elsewhere, was doing the same.

"Quiet, Schnee. You were about to draw, I saw you." James said.

"He was drunk!"

"He's always drunk!" Glynda said. James had started circling the room, and was now behind Qrow. When the others turned to stare at Qrow, they caught both him and James drinking. They both quickly put their flasks away. Ozpin looked at them in anger and bafflement. It took a lot to get Ozpin angry.

After sitting down, Ozpin asked, "Qrow, why are you here?"

"You've been out of contact for weeks. You can't just go dark like that in the field!" Qrow gestured at James, as though the two had forgotten his prescence.

"He is a member of our group, Qrow. You can tell him the information."

"You mean that this drunk cur is a member of the Group?" James shouted.

"There's no need to shout, Prof-"

"No, you don't understand, Ozpin." James interrupted. "If he hadn't cooperated, I would've killed him. And then one of your operatives would've been dead, and his information lost, because you didn't tell me he was one of us. I could've brought him in sooner!"

"I, wait, what do you mean, 'could've brought him in sooner?"

"I stumbled across him at a bar I went to to do work on uncovering the Queen."

"Why were you at a bar?" the Specialist asked.

"I needed a flat surface and something to drink."

"A flat, why were you working on documents discussing the Queen in public? Her agents could have read them!"

"I highly doubt that. You try reading them," James said, pulling out the documents and placing them on the table. The five in the room bent to read them.

"Krolowa? Mozliwee? Podejerzany? What the fuck is this?" Ironwood asked.

"It's my native language, Szczecian."

"Your native, how the fuck do you even pronounce this shit?" Qrow slurred.

"Now is not the time for a linguistics lesson,"

Ozpin interrupted him. "Tomorrow we can discuss that. I think it would be very useful for a code."

"Kurwa," James muttered at the prospect of having to teach them how to speak and write Szczecian.

"Qrow, why are you here?"

"You sent me out to get information on our enemy. Our enemy, is here."

"We know," Ironwood said.

"Oh, you know! Well, thank goodness I'm out there risking my life to keep you informed!"

"Qrow!"

"Communication's a two-way street, pal," Qrow said as he took out his scroll. "You see this? That's the 'send' button."

"They had reason to assume you'd been compromised," the Specialist interjected.

"And I have reason to assume you don't need to be here. Seriously, who invited her?"

"Schnee, we will discuss this incident back on my ship."

"But sir!"

"Winter! Leave."

"Yes sir." The Specialist saluted and left.

She glared at Qrow as she passed.

"Continue," James ordered.

"Your little infiltrator isn't just another pawn. She's the one responsible for Autumn's condition."

"What?" Glynda was worried.

"Who's Autumn? And why wasn't I told about her?" James demanded. Qrow took a drink from his flask.

"Autumn is the Fall Maiden. The Maidens are women who have been given great power. Power more powerful than just a Semblance, and more versatile. Autumn is wounded, and is held in the vault below the school."

"Damnit, you need to tell me this kind of information! I'm not a damn psyker!" A silence followed.

"We aren't just teachers, headmasters, or generals. We are what guards the people from Evil. It's why we meet behind closed doors, act from the shadows. Tell me, General, when you brought your fleet here, were you being discreet, or did you just not give a damn?"

"Discreet wasn't working. I'm here because this," James gestured to a holodisplay he activated, "is what is necessary."

"You're here because Ozpin wanted you here. He brought you into the inner circle and opened your eyes to the fight in front of us."

"I know. And for that, I am grateful."

"Funny way of showing it."

"Vale needed a protector. When they see my fleet, they feel safe. The enemy will know our strength."

Qrow laughed. "You really think that scares her? I've seen what she's made; they are fear."

"The Warp is fear, and I can tell the Queen is powered by the Warp." James agreed. "I was a Lord Inquisitor for almost thirty years before coming to Remnant, and an Inquisitor for a century before that. It is plain as day she is a Chaos Champion, so let me tell you, General." James strode over to Ironwood and shoved a finger against his chest. "There. Is. No. Victory. In. Strength."


	17. Chapter 17

A Reasonable Crusade

Part III: Lux Perpetua

Chapter II: Preparations

The displays swirled. When the first stopped, it displayed Emerald and Mercury. When the second stopped, it displayed Zora and Marion. Of course, Cinder new that would be the pairing, she had determined it last night after hacking into the stadium with the Queen's virus. It was meant to display their power to the Carrion Lord's slaves. The field came up as savanna, city ruins, geyser, and forest.

* * *

Marion smiled. She would have a field day with so much flammable landscape. "Heh, nice armor. Idiot" Marion said.

"I'll be sure to not scratch it," Emerald replied. Zora only studied their opponents in silence. Port called for the match to begin. Mercury and Emerald slowly backed into the tall grass of the savanna. Marion hadn't expected them to be so stupid.

"It's almost like they want to lose," she commented to Zora. She sent a burst of holy promethium into the savannah, splashing against the tree. It burst into flame, quickly spreading to the grass on the ground. It caught and burned quickly, revealing an empty field.

"Above!" warned Zora, as Mercury fell on them, ready to kick. Zora reached out with her mechandrites and blocked the kick. Marion had drawn her chainsword now and slashed at Mercury. He dodged, and delivered a kick that Marion caught with her hand. Zora brought the butt of her hellgun down against his head. He was dazed, but not out. As Marion threw him away, a chain flew out of the forest and latched onto one of Zora's mechandrites. She was dragged into the forest after it.

"Zora!" the white-haired Sister cried, catching a kick from mercury with the flat of her blade. Mercury pulled back and started circling Marion. After going in a complete circle, Mercury fell to the ground and started…breakdancing?

Marion's confusion was resolved as she made out white orbs gathering above him. "By the Emp-" Marion's oath was cutoff as Mercury unleashed the built up storm at her. Explosions rocked Marion's surroundings, and the lenses of her helmet darkened to reduce glare. She saw as Mercury moved to get behind her, and she slashed out at him with her sword. Sparks flew as the teeth met Mercury's aura protected boot. When the sword came away there was a deep gash in the boot, and it sparked inside. He sent a shot at her with his other foot, pellets impacting against her armor before she could dodge. As they squared up, he tried to fire at her with the damaged boot. It made an angry clicking sound, indicating Marion had damaged the loading mechanism. Silently, Marion apologized to the boot's machine spirit. Marion charged with her chainsword, bringing it down on the kid. Before the blade made contact, he pulled back and sent a devastating kick to her head. Pellets and boot impacted on her helmet, cracking the lenses. This kid's aura was powerful, if it could deal that much damage. Even so, she doubted it would've caused much damage to proper Imperial power armor. Her Trooper pattern armor wasn't as strong, but it was easier to produce, which was why the Apriori used it. She batted aside another kick, and the two separated. She saw Zora running from the forest, motioning to regroup in the city ruins. Marion retreated as Mercury ran back to the forest.

Once inside the city ruins, Marion waited for Zora. When she looked around, she didn't see her. What she did see, was Mercury's foot impacting against her helmet again. A beeping sound went off, announcing her armor had sustained sufficient damage for her to be disqualified.

* * *

Meanwhile, Zora was using her integrated auspex to locate Emerald. She felt a tingling at the base of her skull.

"Enough of that, flesh bag. The blessings of the Omnissiah render me immune to mind tricks. I will not fall for your Warp-sorcery," Zora called as she spotted Emerald. She fired her hellgun, leaving a bright line through where Emerald was previously. The blast burnt a hole through the canopy, leaving flames licking at the leaves at the edge. Emerald fired at Zora as she swung through the trees. Zora's augmentations allowed her to react quickly enough to dodge the incoming stubs. Using her enhanced targeting, newly installed for the tournament, she uttered a Litany of Accuracy and fired. The hellblast struck Emerald in her exposed midriff, bringing her aura dangerously low. She was eliminated. She heard the bing sound announcing Marion was out, and right after the horn for Emerald. Oobleck announced the two were out, and speculated on the outcome of the fight.

Zora emerged from the woods, only slightly more burning than they had been before, to see Mercury standing in the middle of the arena. She noticed his sparking boot, and tried to communicate with it in binary. What she got back greatly startled and angered her. She looked in horror as she realized that it was a heretic she was fighting.

"Your boots are corrupted by Chaos! You're a heretic!" Mercury smirked.

"What are you going to do about it?"

"Put a stop to it." Zora sent a message to James from her scroll augmetic. She hoped he could respond in time. Mercury came at her with his boots, firing off shots. Zora countered with a shot from her hellgun. The beam seared through Mercury's leg. She had turned it to full blast. A gasp of horror ran through the crowd. She had just cut off a student's leg. Zora wasn't finished. She advanced on the fallen Mercury, about to poke him with the butt of her hellgun. The crowd was more horrified as they realized what she was about to do. Security guards advanced on the arena and circled around her.

"Artisan Zora! Stop where you are!" Zora considered her options. She knew she could probably kill or knock out Mercury before the guards got her, but it would be pointless. They would take her down, and Mercury would go free. She tried to explain herself.

"Fools! You do not understand! This child is a cultist! He's the one who needs to be apprehended, not me!"

"So what if he's a cultist? People can believe whatever they want."

"He worships Chaos!"

"It doesn't matter. People can believe what they want to. Artisan, you are coming with us." It was pointless. The people of Remnant did not understand the dangers of Chaos. Zora did what she had to, and went with the guards.

James was going over data compiled by his ship. Now that he knew the Grimm came from Malice, he was able to see the Warp-taint all across Remnant. It was different from regular Warp-taint, coming from the Chaos God devoted to fighting Chaos. With this new information he had had his ship's augur arrays scanning the planet as it orbited, trying to locate areas of high taint concentration. He figured that was where the Queen would be located. He had discovered areas of high-taint on every continent, with the exception of Solitas and Menagerie. Over all, the most corruption seemed to come from the Krootoid-looking continent that had been abandoned for centuries, but there were still large tainted sections in Sanus and Anima. His scroll buzzed. _What is it now?_ He thought as he opened the message. James smiled as he read the message. Now he had his link he could trace back to the Queen. James quickly grabbed the documents he had been poring over and shoved them away. It was highly unlikely anyone would be able to read them, but he locked their box and his room anyways. When dealing with Chaos, there is no such thing as being over cautious. After gathering his weapons, he made his way to where the shuttles would be taking festival goers to and from Amity Colosseum. James was able to force his way onto one. At the Colosseum, he disembarked and went to find Mercury. He found him on his way to the arena, carried by Emerald as he hopped along on one foot. They were escorted by guards.

"Halt!" James shouted. He used the voice he had when he was a Sergeant, and he had earned that rank, unlike so many other nobles. Unsurprisingly, the guards stopped. Mercury and Emerald did as well, but considering what they did next, it was probably not because of his command.

"Hey! That crazy metal bitch on your team shot my leg off!" James reached and pulled out his Inquisitorial Rosette. He hoped this bluff worked.

"You two are under arrest by the Ordo Xenos of the Imperial Inquisition for Chaos worship, to be handed over to the Ordo Hereticus at the soonest possible opporotunity."

"Not so fast. The Inquisition doesn't have any authority here." Emerald said. James noted that she didn't deny the charge.

"The Inquisition has authority where ever the Light of the Emperor shines." One of the guards stepped forward.

"She is right. This 'Inquisition' has no authority here."

"You dare defy me, an Inquisitor Lord?" James spat. James's mind was racing, trying to come up with a solution that would get him the heretics that didn't involve fighting. He could probably take them all in a fight, but the guards were innocent, just doing their jobs. It was disregard of innocents that had probably gotten the Inquisition disbanded to begin with. Not to mention beating up the guards would be frowned on, and he wouldn't have the Inquisition to bail him out this time.

"I do not care what you are. You can't arrest anyone." James relented. There was nothing he could do. However, he knew someone who could. The guards glared as they walked past, and James glared back. The guards stopped glaring. James rushed through the halls, looking for Alfredus. The Astartes had massive power; surely he would be able to arrest Mercury.

"Alfredus, where are you?" James voxxed the Astarte.

"I'm in the detention block. Zora is being held for assaulting Mercury."

"Good to know. I'll be there soon." James looked around for something that would lead him to the detention block. After wandering around the stadium for a while James still couldn't find it. James would later have to admit that he only found them after catching a glimpse of the giant Astarte through a closing doorway.

"What is going on here?" James demanded as he strode through the door into the detention block. Perhaps "detention block" are not the right words. It was just a room with a box labelled "lost and found," a desk, and a cage with a few chairs in it. Alfredus was trying to convince the officer at the desk to release Zora too him. It appeared that here, even the authority of the mighty Astartes was marginalized. The officer was incredibly unoriginal and was taking refuge in the chain of command. James had used the same trick and had it used on him more times than he had ridden a horse. He was perhaps the person best acquainted with the trick in the entire Galaxy.

"I have orders from your Sergeant that you release the Artisan to me."

"Do you have the papers?" The officer turned to look at James.

"Your Sergeant never gave me any, but I doubt he'll be very pleased with you if I have to go back to him." The officer's face paled. James had guessed right that he had an unpleasant superior. The officer got up and went over to unlock the cage. He was quite startled when he found out the cage was unlocked.

"Primitive contraptions cannot contain the Omnissiah's Blessed."

The officer held the door to the cage open and said, "You're free to go, Artisan."

"Thank you for your cooperation." James said before leading the two out into a public hallway.

"The heretics have likely escaped. We need to warn Ozpin, before they can do something drastic." James led the two through the stadium. They took a shuttle to the ground. On landing, James ordered Alfredus to go search for Marion to tell her what happened. James had not realized how long he had been in the stadium, the sun was setting now. He and Zora ran into Beacon, and took the elevator up. It was incredibly slow, and audibly groaned from their combined weight. James suspected the only reason it didn't collapse was because the Apriori used lighter materials than the rest of the Imperium. The door opened, and James walked into Ozpin's office.


	18. Chapter 18

A Reasonable Crusade

Part III: Lux Perpetua

Chapter III:

Ozpin's study was empty. James and Zora looked around the sparse office, reaffirming their conclusion.

"Artisan, use his cogitator to see where he is."

Zora reached into the cogitator. See looked through the files to see if she could locate his scroll through it. She let out a burst of binary. "Virus detected. It's of Chaotic origin. I'm purging it now." Zora followed the virus back to its source, crushing it as she went along. "Throne, this thing's infected the entire Vale network. It's been here since at least the dance."

"That must've been what corrupted the techpriest during the breach. Check our equipment as well. If its hidden from us this long, it could've gotten on the ship."As Zora continued her work of removing the Queen virus, James grabbed his scroll. He tried to call Ozpin, but he got no answer. _'_ _Kurwa! Kurwa! Kurwa!'_ James tried again. This time Ozpin picked up.

"What is it, Fletcher? I'm very busy right now." Ozpin was not pleased.

"I have very important information to share with you. Information that can't be shared over scroll."

"Then it will have to wait. I'm rather busy at the moment." With that, Ozpin shut off the call. James's eye twitched slightly at being shut down. There was nothing for it but to wait for Ozpin to return.

* * *

"Have you decided who to send as reinforcements?"

"No. I could send in some Custodes under Magnus, and get those stupid strippers off my back, but I'm not sure that'd be a good use of resources, with the dumb shit going on all over the Imperium."

"And you're still adverse to letting me send in some Harlequins?"

"Of course. Just imagine how the Remnanti would react to your horrifying clown-warriors." Cegorach giggled at the thought. Just then they could hear screaming coming from somewhere outside the Library. The Emperor thought he could make out something about "filthy whore" and "give me my chainaxe back."

"The Four are fighting again. Surely they realize that every time they do this Malice gets stronger?"

"They do, and don't call me Shirley."

Cegorach shot the Emperor a dirty look. "Are you always like this?"

"No. Usually I just complain about the unending pain of being on the Golden Throne. Mostly because no one's left alive who would understand that kind of joke."

* * *

Isha sat in a green, gurgling chair as she half-listened to the Four discussing what to do with Remnant. She waited for the inevitable breakdown that would end the meeting. Isha was astounded they had gotten this far without Khorne and Slaanesh snapping at each other. She turned her full-attention to the conversation out of boredom. They were still trying to figure out how to get past Malice's shield on Remnant.

"Why not just ask them if you can borrow their portal?" Isha cut into the conversation. The Four stopped dead in their tracks, and the silence mounted. It was finally broken by the revving of Khorne's chainaxe.

"That will never work, you stupid whore! I should've eaten you when I ate the others!" Slaanesh screamed as she raised the stolen weapon. Nurgle immediately positioned himself between Isha and Slaanesh.

"Give me back my fucking chainaxe!" Khorne yelled.

"Once I'm finished with my meal!" Slaanesh charged forward and buried the axe in Nurgle's shoulder.

Nurgle let out a whimper and hooked Slaanesh with a cry of "Don't touch my waifu!" Nurgle's fist produced a meaty smack when it hit. He hit much harder than Slaanesh expected, forcing her to let out a moan. Of pleasure or pain, none could tell, nor were they sure there was a difference between the two for him. Khorne grabbed Slaanesh's right arm before it could make another swing at Nurgle.

"Filthy whore! We should've killed you when you were born!" Khorne lifted the chainaxe, now dripping with Nurglite fluids.

"Enough," Tzeentch ordered. "The more you fools fight the stronger he gets. Keep this up and we'll never be able to get through!" Khorne lowered his axe, but even an Ogryn could tell he was still angry. Angrier than usual, that is. Slaanesh was still glaring at Isha with a lust in her eyes, like that of a hungry lion gazing at sheep. Nurgle still positioned himself defensively between Isha and Slaanesh, wounded shoulder dribbling pus on the ground. "Besides, Isha has a point. The Corpse and Clown both know what will happen in Malice gains full control over the Remnant universe. Perhaps they will be amenable to a temporary alliance."

Khorne slowly shook his head. He said, "As much as I hate to say it, but I agree with Slaanesh. Even if she is reason it won't work. You know Anathema hasn't forgiven us for what she did."

"You three used to be friends with him?" Slaanesh was confused.

"Yes, but that is a story for another time," Nurgle said, finally relaxing. "For now, we have work to do."

* * *

Malice cackled with delight. Things on Remnant and elsewhere were shaping up perfectly. Only one more Doomed One was needed for him to get out of the Retconnion. He just needed to gather them all in one place. Then he would be able to wreck his vengeance against the others. Malice looked back at the main Remnant timeline. As Malice watched with glee how RNJR was fighting for their lives against his Grimm. The timeline diverged as he watched. "How do people keep slipping between universes?" Curiously, he looked closer at the new timeline. "Damnit, now I have to deal with Lews Therin and his companions? It's almost like something is actively trying to keep me in the Retconnion." Malice turned back to the Team JAMZ timeline and unexisted in silence for an undetermined amount of time. "I think I'll give the Inquisitor visions of his ancestors just to fuck with him."

* * *

"What do you think he's doing?"

"What?" came the Primarch's Prosperan accent.

"Like, what do you think he does when he becomes unresponsive? Do you think he sleeps or does he go somewhere? If he sleeps, does he dream?"

"I honestly can't tell. I've tried looking into his thoughts, but his mind is as closed to me as Tzeentch's ever was." A deep, somewhat monotone voice shook the Throne room.

"Hello Banana, Tomato. What were you two just talking about?"

"Uhhh, nothing," Magnus lied.

"We were wondering what you do when you get unresponsive," Little Kitten said, enthusiastic to comply with his Lord's wishes.

"Anyways, I have an important assignment for you two."

"Oh no,"

"Oh boy! What kind of assignment?" Magnus and Little Kitten said, speaking over each other.

"One of my former Inquisitors is trapped on a planet infested with Daemons. He has been doing his best to help the natives get rid of them, but he needs reinforcements."

"Let me guess, you want us to go help him?"

"Not quite, Magnus. At least, not yet. For now, I want you to tell those strippers," As if his words acted as summons, the familiar song came out of nowhere. "Myself damnit, I didn't want to summon them," the Emperor groaned as Wamuudes, Custodisi, and Karstodes jumped to stand in front of the Emperor's throne.

"My well-oiled body yearns to obey your wishes, Master!" Custodisi announced.

"You three, I need you to inform Szczecia," the text-to-speech device butchered the pronunciation worse than an untrained human butchers Eldar pronunciation, "that we need an advance on their next Winged Hussar regiment. I have a special task I need them for, and you three will, of course, be accompanying them. Also, put some fucking armor on before you go."

"Our bodies are yours to do with as you please, my Lord," the three said together. As one they left to do the Emperor's will.

"Fucking strippers," was all the Emperor said.

* * *

Arrows and bolts wizzed past James, thudding into the shields of his companions. Arrows? Bolts? He must be on some feudal world. James notched an arrow to his bow, wait, why was he using a bow? James realized he had to be waiting. Then James wondered why he was using a bow, even in his dreams. He would never use a bow. James loosed, catching a bowman on top the wall in the eye. He went down with a cry, clutching at his face. He repeated the motion, heedless of the missiles that flew past him, bringing down his allies. Some of his arrows missed, some thudded against shields. Most struck defenders in the chest, face, or arms. James moved to draw another arrow, to find that his quiver was empty. He shrugged off his shield, put away his bow, and drew his sword. Another discrepancy between the real him, and the dream him, this sword was straight with a two-edged blade, a bastard sword by the look of it. The real James much preferred sabers. He walked up the siege tower, shield raised to block incoming missiles. The door fell and he crossed the gap. He felt two thuds against his plank before he got to swinging range. He brought the sword down on the head of an archer, then brought it around to hit a knight in the back. He stepped forward and poked it through a crossbowman's gut. He brought his shield up to block a swing from a studded mace, and lashed out, taking the man's dinner out through his gut. A pick came down, and he wasn't able to block it. Another sword hit him on the side. With a last swing, he caught a knight in the head, denting his helmet. He raised his shield as he retreated, protecting him from any missiles the defenders would launch. Before he had taken two steps back, he saw one of his, or more accurately, one of his allies', knights rush forward, bringing a two-handed axe down on a defender. More streamed past, some with swords, some axes. They managed to force their way onto the wall, and James followed. James hit a lancer in the back, and he was felled by an axe to the head. Wordless screams were occasionally cut by cries of "For the Khan!" and "For Yaroglek!" James wondered who they were, obviously it wasn't Jaghatai. He led the men further down the wall to meet another group of defenders. He was stuck in the middle, and couldn't escape. He brought his sword down, over and over again. It was coated red by the time the last one had fallen. During the fighting he had somehow gotten turned around. As he moved to turn, he felt a sharp pain in his back, and blacked out.

* * *

James awoke with a start. He was back in Ozpin's office. His Guard training let him fall asleep standing. The door opened, letting in Ozpin. James's hand almost drew back, but he restrained himself.

"Where in the Warp have you been?" James's growled at Ozpin.

"I have been attending to inner circle business. What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

James's eye twitched slightly. Ozpin didn't seem to notice. "I have uncovered the Queen's moles. However, I need your authority to arrest them."

"How exactly did you uncover their identities?"

"The Artisan tried communicating with the machine spirits in one of their weapons. She found that it was corrupted by Chaos to the service of Malice, the God that the Queen serves."

"Even if that is so, I hardly think it constitutes evidence to arrest someone, besides, you haven't convinced even me of the existence of machine spirits. I doubt any court would accept evidence based off them."

"They exist alright. But that's secondary. What's important is you arrest them before they can do something disastrous."

"I'm sorry, but I can't arrest them with the 'evidence' you've given me. Besides, they won't be able to do anything."

"That's not all. You had a virus on your cogitator of Chaotic origin. I have no doubt that they planted it there and have used it to gain access to, and perhaps even control of, your entire cogitator network, perhaps even the Colosseum itself."

"Well then, there's not much we can do about beyond removing it."

"It already has been. Now what are you going to do about sensitive information they accessed?"

"Nothing. The damage is already done."

"I should have you tried for criminal incompetence."

Ozpin faintly smiled. "You aren't the only one who thinks so. Now please, leave my office."

James beckoned Zora to follow and left without a word. On the elevator ride down she told James about something else she found in Ozpin's cogitator. James's shouts could almost be heard from outside the elevator.


	19. Chapter 19

**=][= sorry, it took so long, I've been busy. It's probably going to be a while before I get the next one out too. =][=**

A Reasonable Crusade

Part III: Lux Perpetua

Chapter IV: Fall

 _'Where did it all go so wrong?'_ The thought kept running through James's mind. It had been a while since the fall, and the holes Cinder left in him were healing fine. The holes in his armor would be harder to fix. They just didn't have the resources here. James groaned. The ease with which Cinder's arrow had gone through his armor made it seem like cardboard. Flak armor was supposed to be cardboard, not power armor, damn it! There was a shuffling, and James opened his eyes. He was in one of the native medicae wards, but it was Imperial medicae equipment he was hooked up to.

"Is there anything I can get you, sir?" a flowery voice said. A nurse came into view. It must've been her who had asked.

"Do you know where my Team is?" James's voice was gruff. "Some water wouldn't be bad either."

"I'll get some right away, sir." The small nurse went to fill up a cup. She returned and gave him the cup. As he sat up to take a drink of the lukewarm from the squishy plastic cup a wave of sudden nausea almost sent him down again. Almost. He was tougher than that. Evidently not tough enough to keep it from showing, as the nurse reached out to steady him. He waved her away as he drank. He hadn't realized how dry his throat was. The plain tap water seemed cool, he so thirsty.

"A little nausea won't slow me down, I've had worse." The nurse backed away. "Now, my Team?"

The nurse made a small exclamation as she reached for a clipboard on the table next.

"Team JAMZ, right? Well, my shift's almost over, but I'll see what I can do- oh, looks like Sister Marion is scheduled to be your nurse next. Is there anything else you want?"

James shook his head. What he needed was information, information that the nurse wouldn't have access to. "I'll wait." Seeing that there was nothing for her to do here, the nurse left to attend to other duties.

James looked around the room. It was small, but he had it all to himself, something rather uncommon in Imperial medicae wards. It was clean and sterile, something else uncommon in Imperial medicae wards. He disliked the smell. He saw a remote lying on the table next to the bed and grabbed it. Moving hurt, forcing him to be careful. Powering through pain was nice and all on the battlefield, but when not in danger, ignoring pain could be dangerous itself. Pain was the Emperor's way of telling you your body was damaged, after all.

James pressed a button on the remote, turning on the small holovid caster in the corner. Flipping through the channels, he saw it was mostly native shows, some cartoons, some news. He stopped on one of the non-native shows that had become regularly available. Extremely buff Tau dressed in flamboyant colors clearly marked it as _FioFio's Bizarre Adventure_. With a grimace of disgust he switched the channel again.

He shut off the vidcaster as he heard a knock on the door. "Come in!" he called. The door opened to let in Marion.

"Hello sir!" Marion said. "Violet told me you had woken up." Violet must've been the name of the native nurse.

"Where is Zora and Alfredus?"

"Zora is busy helping the Vale Workshop get up and running. Alfredus is with the Apothecaries trying to find a place on your ship to store the gene-seeds until they can be returned to Sector Aprior." James nodded in acceptance. He ignored the small headache the motion gave him. Small pains could be safely ignored.

"Well, status reports?"

"I have them here," she said, handing him a data-slate. "Is there anything you need before you start reading them?"

"No, I'm fine. If I do need anything I'll call." He didn't even wait for Marion to leave before activating the data-slate.

/APRIOR SECTOR INTERNAL SECURITY

/OFFICIAL REPORT ON VYTAL FESTIVAL ATTACK AS PREPARED FOR VEIWING BY 3RD LIEUTENANT JAN "JAMES" FLETCHER OF THE SZCZECIAN 88TH WINGED HUSSARS, ACTING COMMANDER OF THE REMNANTI ANEXATION EFFORTS

/SUMMARY OF EVENTS

/ Chaos infiltrators serving Malice hacked into and seized control of Amity Colosseum, using Colosseum's voxcasters to deliver message. Message was countered by efforts of Aprior Mechanicus, but damage was done. (Note: Abominable Intelligence _Polly Polendina_ was destroyed in the preceding fight). Message below:

/++This is not a tragedy. This was not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children, to men who claim to be our guardians, but are, in reality, nothing more than men. Our academies headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both! They cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet, what do we have here? One nation's attempt at a synthetic army, mercilessly torn apart by another's star pupil. What need would Atlas have for a soldier disguised as an innocent little girl? I don't think the Grimm can tell the difference. And what, I ask you, is Ozpin teaching his students? Huntsmen and Huntresses should carry themselves with honor and mercy, yet I've witnessed neither. Perhaps Ozpin thought that defeating Atlas in the tournament would help people forget his colossal failure to protect Vale when Grimm attacked its streets, relying on the Imperials to do so. Or perhaps this was his message to the tyrannical dictator who has occupied an unsuspecting Kingdom with armed forces. Honestly, I haven't the slightest clue as to who here is wrong. But I know that the existence of peace is fragile, and the leaders of our Kingdoms conduct their business with iron gloves. As someone who hails from Mistral, I can assure you, the situation there is equally undesirable. Our Kingdoms are at the brink of war, yet we, the citizens, are left in the dark. So I ask you, when the first shots are fired, who do you think you can trust? Certainly not the Imperials, they have already given their trust to guardians, such as the Space Marines and Inquisition. Their guardians choose names like the Marines Malevolent, or the Angry Marines, and they do these names justice. The Marines Malevolent care nothing for the citizens they are supposed to protect. But more insidious are the less obviously evilly named chapter, like the Grey Knights. The Grey Knights regularly kill billions because they believe a mere dozen may not worship their God-Emperor, or worse, know about their existence, and innocents be damned. They've even slaughtered innocent, perfectly loyal nuns and used their blood as armor paint. Their Inquisition has a saying, 'Innocence proves nothing.' Even relying heavily on corpse-starch rations made from humans, they can't feed their major population centers. They label those who wish only to improve the state of the Imperium as heretics, and mercilessly kill them. Again, I ask you, who can you trust?++

/ The Colosseum, Beacon Academy, and City of Vale were then attacked by a large force of Grimm Daemons supported by Traitor Astartes of the Sons of Malice Chapter.

/ Imperial and native forces almost overwhelmed, tide turned with the reported appearance of Ghost Sergeant Jonnahas (unverified), subsequent explosion death of the enemy commander, and the activation of student Ruby Rose's sliver eye powers (confirmed).

/CASUALTY REPORT

/IMPERIAL FORCES: 39%

/APRIOR: 45%

/KNIGHTS INDUCTOR: 68%

/REASONS'S LIGHT: 25%

/MECHANICUS: 50%

/INQUISITION: 50%

/MECHANICUS: 20%

/NATIVE: 80%

/ATLAS: 99%

/VALE: 70%

/HUNTSMEN: 20%

/END OF REPORT

James grimaced. It irked him that most of the native casualties were because Atlas's robot army was corrupted. They were lives, needlessly lost, just because the Ironwood was too dense to realize the danger of trusting too completely to robotic soldiers, especially ones that were not subordinate to the flesh. Without their deaths, they might've been able to keep Beacon. He went to the next report.

/PERSONAL REPORT OF SILENCER ALFREDUS CAROLINUS DELOREANUS CAROLUS, KNIGHTS INDUCTOR, FOR ASIS FILE ON VYTAL FESTIVAL ATTACK

/++ It was the day after we had realized that Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury were agents of the ArchEnemy. Despite best efforts, we could not obtain authority from local governmental bodies to arrest the heretics. I sincerely hope this will be remedied once a proper ASEC oversight has been established. Due to inability to apprehend heretics legally, I prepared for the worst. I exchanged my power sword for a null sword and took our one Animus Diadem. I also chose to don standard KI Power Armor, choosing speed and maneuverability over power.

I then stood guard in the Colosseum to protect the viewers from potential threats. The attack came right after the message was delivered. The civilians panicked, and I attempted to restore order. I directed civilians to shuttles and I voxxed the ship for air support. A Nevermore attacked the Colosseum and broke through the void shields. White Fang heretics brought Grimm aboard the Colosseum. Here I was able to use the Animus Diadem and null sword to great effect. Soon the Valkyrie Avengers and Repressors had taken the field. One dropped its crew of armsmen on the stadium. Heavy bolters and the armsmen helped in quickly dealing with the threat on the Colosseum. That was when the first report of Stormravens came in. Many of the civilian transports were destroyed on the way down by the heretic gunships. I led a small force of Huntsmen and commandeered a Shuttle. Miss Rose turned back to the Colosseum after departure.

We landed and made our way to Beacon Academy, where we met up with the Sisters and James. I saw Miss Belladonna running towards the cafeteria. I left the Huntsmen with James and pursued. I was stopped by a small group of Sons of Malice. I dispatched them relatively easily, using the sword to channel my null essence, destroying their souls. Before I could kill the last one, a great trembling shook the ground. In the distance I could clearly see a Krootoid Grimm flying towards the school. Black ooze was dripping from its wings, and at that distance only an Astarte could see that the ooze was forming into Grimm. As I turned to go after Miss Belladonna again, I was beset by more Sons of Malice. I took a few bolt rounds to the chest before I could send a glob of plasma at them. I engaged the survivors at melee range. I sustained an axe wound to the shoulder, but was otherwise unhurt for the time being. My null sword turned wounds that would not trouble even a normal human into wounds capable of killing the traitor Astartes. Afterwards, I was challenged by a single Parasite Rider. It's two companions had already been killed. It charged me and I swung. The Hooked Horror rider caught my sword arm with one of its hooks after I took the head of its mount. I was forced to drop my sword as the blow almost severed my arm. Its head was then removed by Ghost Sergeant Jonnahas's storm bolter. I do not believe I would have survived the fighting if I had not been a Silencer. After retrieving my sword, I continued after Miss Belladonna. As I neared the cafeteria, I found Miss Belladonna carrying Miss Long. Miss Long's arm was removed and Miss Belladonna had received a serious wound to her side. I removed Miss Long from her shoulders and carried her to the safe zone. Once there I met up with the rest of the students. We then received medical attention from James's armsmen. Miss Long was immediately prepped to receive an augmetic arm.++

/END OF REPORT

James did not recognize what the Animus Diadem was. He had not had much time to look over all the Aprior-unique weapons. He wasn't sure he wanted to. Whatever it was, James assumed it was probably similar to the Animus Speculum used by the Culexus. It would make sense, given that the Silencers were essentially Astartes versions of the Culexus, even if they didn't do Culexus-style assassinations. When he thought about it, the way the Culexus killed didn't match well with the Apriori. Pushing it to the back of his mind, James flipped to the next report.

/PERSONAL REPORT OF SISTER MEDICAE MARION ROSE, ORDER OF REASON'S LIGHT, FOR ASIS FILE ON VYTAL FESTIVAL ATTACK

/++I was playing a game of Paradox-Billiards-Vostroyan-Roulette-Forth Dimensional-Hypercube-Chess-Strip Poker with Gawyn. Yusuf, Max, and Vivian were watching us. After our third game we got the call about the Grimm attack. We were in the cafeteria when the attack started, so we gathered the few students in there and headed for the courtyard. A large Ursa blocked our path.

With a cry of "Iimbraturia ackbar!" Yusuf opened up on it. A small daemon, it fell quickly. More of the beasts approached. The guardsmen fired at the approaching daemons as we advanced to the courtyard. Bullheads kept flying in and delivering more beasts. Max was screaming about how it was such a lovely day. As we arrived in the courtyard, more students started filing in. We had gathered many by that point, and were sending them off to Vale. Once it was only me and the guardsmen, a large group of students, accompanied by James, joined us. They were quite adamant about staying and fighting, and for that I give them commendations. At some point James left us. During the battle, we must've killed hundreds of daemons. The Atlas robots were a small help, until they turned. With holes in our defense, we were being pushed back. Eventually we were able to destroy most of the infantry robots, but the paladins presented problems. Miss Velvetina used her weapon for the first time. She attacked one of the paladins with a holographic chainsword. Somehow, it actually cut through the paladin's armor. She cycled through various weapons, including a heavy bolter and various student weapons. She displayed even greater skill at using the weapons than their original owners, almost bringing down one of the paladins by herself. She copied one of the guardsmen's plasma guns, and it exploded when she tried to use it. Her aura protected her enough for me to hit her with an Aceso. Miss Schnee brought down the damaged paladin.

Another paladin charged us, and Max took out a melta bomb. How he managed to get it, I have no idea. He activated it, sprayed something over his mouth, shouted for us to "witness" him and charged the mech. His last words were, "I ride eternal, shiny and chrome! For Terra!" at which point he was engulfed by the melta explosion. He did manage to destroy the mech. As the attack ended, we made our way back to the safe zone in Vale. Brother Alfredus, with Miss Belladonna and Miss Long rejoined us. I immediately set Gawyn and Yusuf to help with triage while I joined the civilian medics in caring for the wounded.++

/END OF REPORT

James read the last paragraph of the report. James was upset. Not upset enough to bring tears to his eyes, only one thing could do that now, but Max's death still hurt. He had been a family friend, or rather, James had been a family friend of Max's. He had served with Max's great-grandfather on Nogred, back when he was still in the guard. James tried to shove the thoughts to the back of his mind. Nogred had other, more painful memories. Memories he did not need to be thinking about right now.

 _'Why didn't I stop him?'_ James moaned in his head. _'_ _No. I need to focus on the task at hand. Maybe afterwards I'll get to see her again'_. Firmly putting memories of Nogred and the Guard out of his mind, James took a look at the next file.

/PERSONAL REPORT OF ARTISAN ZORA IVANOVNA TECHNIKOVA, CULT INNOVATUS, FOR ASIS FILE ON VYTAL FESTIVAL ATTACK

/++I was experimenting on Atlesian robots to see if I could connect them to the noosphere and convert them into Mechanicum robots (yes, I acquired them perfectly legally, no I'm not lying). I managed to get them connected, but we were attacked before I could do anything other than paint them red. I lead new robots to Vale to help with the defenses. Things were going well, and the Daemons were being pushed back.

When the other Atlesian robots turned, the Remnanti defenders began to rout. I received chatter over the noosphere from other techpriests that forces near them were routing as well. I did the only thing I could do; I tried to raise the troop's morale. I know that is usually the Commissar's job, but for some reason, James didn't have a Commissar anywhere. Not a single one. I did not perform summary executions to raise morale; we of the Aprior Sector are not as barbaric as that. What I did was form my new robots into a defensive ring, while blasting uplifting music through the vox. I specifically chose songs about victory and valiant last stands, and I ordered the subordinate techpriests to do the same. This seemed to work, as the defenders began to push back once I did so.

As we pushed the daemons back, a small force of Sons of Malice cut me and a few Valen soldiers off from the rest. They had us pinned inside a building, silently and calmly firing shots whenever we tried to fight back. They never tried to close to melee with us, instead having fun by keeping us completely helpless. We were eventually rescued when one of the Martians hit them on their flank. Taking this opportunity, we joined in. When we finally killed the last fallen Astartes, losing all of the Valens with me, and many of our robots, chatter over the noosphere indicated that Vale was secure. By now, I had only three Atlesian robots left, of the one hundred I originally refurnished.++

/END OF REPORT

The portion in parentheses troubled James. James highly doubted that Zora had acquired the robots "legally", whatever that meant, but as long as they weren't AIs there wasn't much he was willing to do about it. The part that troubled him was the "no, I'm not lying" part. That implied she had done this sort of thing before, or had at least lied in official documents. Doubt began to grow, and James wondered if he could really trust the Artisan. Would she lie to him? He would have to be more careful about what he let her know from now on. James opened a new document. It was time for him to right his report for the Ordo Originatus. _'_ _But wait,'_ James thought, _'_ _they don't exist anymore. Still, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to write a report.'_


	20. Chapter 20

**=][= There's an April Fools joke in here somewhere, but I won't say what =][=**

A Reasonable Crusade

Part III: Lux Perpetua

Chapter V: Where Things Went Wrong

James recalled the events of the Fall as he typed his report.

* * *

James was walking around the fair grounds. He was disappointed with the selection. It was mostly Chogoran and Tau food. Many things on Remnant felt that way. He still questioned whether this was really happening, and he hadn't just gotten sucked into some Tau vid. James was incredibly bored. In his power armor he was too strong to play any of the games, and it would take him too long to take it off. Besides, once the heretics had been discovered, he didn't trust anywhere as safe enough to go without it. They would undoubtedly attack soon.

Unfortunately, he was right in this, as just as completed walking through the fair for the God-Emperor-Forsakenedth-time, he heard screams. They didn't sound like joyous screams, and they were continuous. Instantly his lasgun was in hand as scanned for hostiles. He found them in the form of an Ursa barreling at him. One quick trigger pull put the beast down. What was behind the beast was much more concerning. Hooked Horrors ran down the lanes, climbed over stalls, running after fair goers. Many were paralyzed in fright.

"Dla króla Jadwiga! For the Emperor!" Pulse blasts streaked down the lane striking Malician daemons. A screech sounded behind him, and James pivoted to counter. The hook hit his gun and slashed across the barrel. James instinctively tossed the smoking ends of the bisected tech heresy away and drew his saber to fight the Horror. The creature spent its last few moments cackling at the loss of the lasgun. James frowned. Although he would not realize it until the trial, this was a rather fortunate event. He was not the best shot was a lasgun, he was barely average except with a pistol, but the pistol didn't have the range to hit many of the Horrors, but it didn't matter. The fairgrounds would be overrun even if he did have the lasgun. Switching the saber to his left hand and drawing his bolt pistol, James advanced towards a friendly position.

The report of his bolt pistol was replaced by the clicking of an empty magazine. He ejected the sent magazine, and sent it flying to a small avian. Whether it was a Grimm or a regular bird, he wasn't sure; its body was obliterated by the force of the impact. James slammed his last magazine into the pistol as he ran. He had already gone through three magazines, taking down slightly more daemons, despite not missing a single shot. Lesser daemons they may be, Hooked Horrors were tough.

' _Damn their Emperor-forsaken Aura,'_ James thought as he saw a black and white form huddling together, their weapons lying beyond a ring of Hooked Horrors, taunting them over how useless they were. James emptied the pistol, managing to take down a full two of the daemons. The exploding bolts sprayed the two terrified Huntresses-in-training with daemonic blood. They didn't even notice. James ran at the two girls, and kicked their weapons towards them. They didn't bother to grab them. As James closed with them, he drew his sword up and brought it crashing down on a Horror's skull. With another swing he took its head, and the beast dematerialized into the Warp. The sword smoked with black blood.

"Rally to me! Rally to me!" James called, hoping to attract a few survivors. Even as he shouted, he moved to fight off the rest of the Horrors. James thrust the point of his sword through the bottom of one daemon's skull, then slashed across to parry a strike from the last one. He launched a strike at the daemon, cutting off its last hook as it tried to parry. The Hooked Horror died happy, knowing that the irony of having its favored fighting method used against it would strengthen its God as much as if it had been the one to disarm James. Now that the Horrors were gone, Weiss and Blake seamed to realize what was going on. Weiss heaved, remembering she was spattered with daemon blood.

"What the hell was that?" James asked angrily. "You two just sat there waiting to die while they taunted you! You didn't even try to go for your weapons!"

Blake was quicker to regain her composer. "I-"

"Talk later," James cut her off. "We need to get out of here now." The two girls seemed to agree, and James gave one last rallying cry. Nobody came. They were all either dead or out already, and James suspected most would be the former. James reholstered his bolt pistol, once again taking his sword in his right hand. The two girls were good enough at keeping Grimm at bay, but whenever a Hooked Horror approached, they would recoil in fear, leaving James to deal with them at close range. James quickly grew annoyed at this, and by the time they finally made it to Beacon Tower his armor had a few scratches it didn't before, and he could feel something warm leaking down his arm.

Something was off. The robots just stood there. As if detecting the three, the robots straightened and turned around. They had a red glow that wasn't there before.

"They've been corrupted!" James loudly informed the two girls. "Don't just stand there, take them down, you fools!" James waved his sword at the robots, just now starting to take aim at them. The girls took only a moment to get over their shock at the robots turning, or perhaps it was anger at being insulted again, but it was enough for the robots to get off a volley. No wonder the Grimm were so dangerous here, their plasma guns did about as much as a flashlight on its lowest setting. James rushed forward and cleaved through a robot's aluminum body. A blast of ice reached around him, trapping two of the offending robots and a spray of stub rounds took down the other two. A group of students raced over to meet him. Seeing Marion and some guardsmen running towards them, James waved at her with his sword.

"Go meet up with Marion. We have a schola to take back!" Even as he said this, he saw Ozpin standing in an archway. Two of the students, one blonde, the other quite literally redheaded, walked over to him. Pyrrha and Jaune, that's what their names were, followed Ozpin as he turned away. James ran to catch up with them.

"What are you doing, Ozpin?" James called out as they approached the elevatums. Ozpin pressed the down button. "Damnit, Oz, tell me!"

"Nothing is going on, and for future reference, I'd advise you speak with a more polite tone to your employer." The elevatum arrived.

"Your schola is under attack by the forces of Chaos, and you are here with two students, one of whom is clearly confused. Something is definitely going on."

Ozpin sighed. "I suppose you would've found out anyways. Come." He stepped into the elevatum and drew the two students with him. James squeezed in after. In was very cramped. So cramped, that Pyrrha and Jaune were uncomfortably close to the wall, and they were even closer to each other. It looked like there was enough room for Pyrrha to take half a step back. It took a long time to reach the destination floor. It was even deeper than the Forge. When the doors opened, Jaune and Pyrrha spilled out, Jaune tripping over Pyrrha, or was it over himself? The boy was very clumsy, even if he had been getting better. Ozpin calmly stepped forward and led them through the spacious hallways. The clacking of boots and whirring of motors eachoed through the halls as they walked.

"Care to hurry it up, child? Some of us have a schola to protect." If James was looking at Jaune or Pyrrha, he would've seen confusion grow on their faces. _'_ _Surely Professor Ozpin is older than Professor James, isn't he? Proffesor James doesn't even have a single gray hair,'_ or a similar thought ran through their heads.

Their walk soon came to an end. James looked on with curiosity at the wounded girl in one of the pods. Tubes came up out of it and disappeared into the ceiling, only to come back down into the empty, open pod.

"What is this?" Jaune and James asked at the same time.

"Pyrrha!" Ozpin spoke over the two, "get in the pod. You two, if you want to help you can stand guard here."

"I will not stand guard over something that I have no idea about. First, you tell me." Ozpin and James locked eyes. Ozpin was about to tell James to shut up and that it would be explained later, but there was something in James's eye, something that told him that would be fatal.

"It's an Aura transfer device," the headmaster said, turning the machine on. An orange fluid flowed into the pipes and came back down. "The person in the other pod is Amber, the Fall Maiden. You know the story of the Maidens? No? Another time then-"

"How does it work?" James' voice was flat, with a dangerous edge to it.

"It takes the soul from one person and puts it in the body of another." James snarled.

"That's Heresy! You can't just do that, a person's soul is who they are! You'd be depriving her of an afterlife! I'm a Radical and even I find this disgusting!"

The sound of breaking glass and a squishy thud cut James off. As he turned he saw a single arrow protruding from Amber's pod, burying itself into her sternum. Alarms blared for seconds, before cutting off as Amber died. By then, the student, teacher, and headmaster had fully turned around.

"Heretic!" James spat as he saw the woman from the robbery so many months ago. An orange burst of energy flew from Amber's corpse, shattering the rest of the glass. It enveloped Cinder, who's eyes started to glow and levitate. Jaune charged, but was thrown back by a blast of warpfire. With a cry, Pyrrha forced her way out of the pod. Before she could move to strike, Ozpin stopped her.

"Go find someone! It doesn't matter who, just take Jaune and go!" Pyrrha tried to put up a fight, but Ozpin was firm. Pyrrha gave in and brought Jaune out.

"So, their Maiden powers, they function like Aura, right?" Cinder had now descended and was standing in front of them.

"No, they are different. The Maiden powers are more like, for lack of a better word, magic."

"Even better," Jaune moved to vox Alfredus. As quick as an Eldar, Cinder drew and fired, the arrow raking across Jame's face, destroying his vox unit. The machine spirits cried in pain. Ozpin flipped his cane around.

"I think we should keep this between us three, Mr. Inquisitor," Cinder seemed to be talking down to him.

"Ozpin, I'm going to find Alfredus. His null aura should nullify her Maiden powers. This is not up for debate."

"Forgetting already? I said we should keep this between us,"

James growled. He drew his sword, having sheathed it sometime earlier, and shouted, "Charge!" Ozpin ignored his command, though coincidentally he attacked when James had given it. James feinted as he drew near, trying to trick Cinder into think he was attacking. She was too quick, and although she fell for James's trick, and was able to continue through and attack. This gave Ozpin an opening, who took it. With a flurry of cane strikes, each landing with a Righteous Fury, Ozpin was able to get her off James. Now free to go, James ran for the elevatum. Hazarding a glance behind him, all he could see of Cinder's and Ozpin's fight were flashes of fire and green light.

* * *

James was running as he left the ruins of the main tower. A great rumbling sounded through the place, and he wasn't sure it would stand much longer. As he ran, he came across one student. He could see the trail of one of the rocket lockers as she ran back into the building, past him.

"Oh no you don't, Ms. Nikos," James said, grabbing her arm, "It's too dangerous,"

"I have to. No one else can stop her now." As James looked into her verdant eyes he could see that she would not stop. Nothing short of execution or critically wounding her would prevent her from going, and at this moment, neither of those were options. James resigned himself to following to make sure the fool girl didn't get herself killed.

He followed her back to the elevatum he had just left. She forced the doors open, revealing a large hole in the floor and ceiling, with sparking wires hanging down. James thanked the Emperor for granting him that narrow escape. Pyrrha forced the elevatum up using her polarity. James inwardly cringed. It was almost as if he could hear the machine spirits screaming, from pain, from rage, from indignation at such treatment. It was a miracle the elevatum went up at all.

When they finally reached the top, Ozpin's former office, Pyrrha forced the doors open, immediately striking out. James was more reserved in his approach. That was, until beams of warpfire started flying around him. He was forced to duck and dodge, not able to assess the field for even a second. Then it seemed like it was over. Pyrrha had Cinder in a headlock, holding her still enough for James to put a sword in her. He was about to do just that, when a piercing screech resounded through the air. He turned to see a monstrous Grimm Flyer flying right towards them. Then there was a clanking sound, of metal hitting stone, and James went flying, along with the top of the tower. James was at the edge, tottering from the force of the blast. He knew he would fall even before he did.

He was now falling down from the top of Beacon tower. He scrambled for a handhold, something to break his fall, and his arm was nearly ripped straight off as he came to a stop a few yards below the edge. He could see flashes of fire and hear the groans of two people, indicating the fight was still on. He had no way of telling how the fight was going: who was winning, and how close.

James groped around for another hand hold. Finding one, he kicked around, looking for someplace to put his feet. Then, he started to climb. The sounds from the top stopped.

"It was unfortunate you were promised a power that was never truly yours," James recognized the voice as Not Pyrrha's. That meant the other beaten her. He climbed faster, hoping to rescue the poor girl, or, at least avenge her. "But at least you can take comfort in knowing that _I_ will use it in ways you never could have imagined."

James pulled himself over the top. Pyrrha was on her knees, Cinder grasping her chin.

"Do you believe in destiny?" she asked.

"Yes," Cinder drew back her bow, forming it from rubble as she did. With one last push, James launched himself at Pyrrha. With a twang, he felt a as if a burning iron had been shoved into his side. He saw Ruby land and gasp in shock. The last thing he heard before all went white was the roar of engines.

* * *

Ruby landed with a thud. She saw as the arrow pierced James's armor. A loud "bang!" and soon he was surrounded by white fog. She didn't see him die. She didn't need to. She just knew. She knew that her favorite, well, second including Zora, teacher, along with one of her best friends were now dead.

"NOOOOOOoooooo!" She screamed, trails of white flowing from her eyes, bathing all in a brilliant radiance. She vaguely heard the screams of the Grimm Dragon and Cinder.

* * *

Ruby struggled to open her eyes. She was in her bed, back home on Patch. As she looked around she saw her father sleeping in a chair. She gave a yawn, startling her father. After rushing to her side and exclaiming the obvious as fathers often do, Ruby asked the only thing that came to mind.

"What happened?"

Taiyang sighed. "Some of the Imperials found you. Unconscious. They brought you out of there though, they brought you home safe." After a moment, another thing came to Ruby's mind. Her eyes opened wide, panicked.

"Wait, Yang! Is she okay?" she asked. Taiyang's answer was less enthusiastic.

"She's uh, she's gonna be alright. I think she's just, I think it's just gonna take some time for her to get used to things. She's too strong to let this stop her. She's already got a replacement installed." With a sniff, he continued, "I'm just glad to have my girls back at home."

On like this Ruby and Taiyang talked, with Ruby asking about various things and Taiyang answering as best he could. Until Qrow interrupted them, that is. Qrow drained his flask before talking again.

Now Ruby talked with Qrow. In the middle of answering a question, something about the last thing she remembered, it all came rushing back to her.

"Pyrrha! Professor Fletcher! Are they…" She left the question unfinished.

"Comatose. We don't know how long until they wake up."

Ruby was immensely relieved at the news. They were not dead, she had saved them. Then Qrow continued.

"We don't know if they ever will." This brought Ruby into despair. She had not saved them, and now they might waste away as vegetables.

She choked out the words, "I got to the top of the tower, the Cinder, then everything went white," as tears started to form. "I remember my head hurting."

After another question, Qrow explained the significance of Ruby's eyes.

* * *

Yang was fuming. She could not believe the nerve of those Imperials! They hadn't even asked her if she wanted it, just went on and installed it while she was unconscious! Her door creaked.

"Go away!" she shouted, not caring who it was. Hearing a frightened "Eep!" she realized it was Ruby. "And tell the others to stop bothering me!" she called after her sister. She was in no mood for reunions, and especially not for those damned techpriests telling her how to properly pray to the "machine spirits" and how to apply the "sacred unguents." What a load of complete garbage.


	21. Chapter 21

A Reasonable Crusade

Part IV: Lux Fractus

Chapter I: Changes

"Can I go play _Call of Duty_ now?" Asked the Captain-General of the Adeptus Custodes. He had just lost another round of _Pocket Daemons_.

"NO!" the red, winged mass sitting across from him bellowed. "WE ARE NOT FINISHED YET, TEASPOON!"

"Aww, but this game is even worse than Paradox Billiards Vostroyan Roulette Four Dimension Hypercube Chess Strip Poker,"

"SILENCE!" Kitten sighed as he picked up his deck. They were all terrible cards. Not a one above 100hp.

"We should be getting close to Nocturne by now. Then we'll have three Primarchs back."

"Yep. I just hope he doesn't freak out when he sees me. He was always nice, but those are ones you have to be careful about." The two sat in silence for a few moments, playing the card game. A few turns later, Kitten spoke again.

"I wonder what is in that package the Emperor wanted us to deliver."

"And why would he want us to give it to some random Inquisitor. I know he said it could determine the fate of the galaxy, but I honestly do not see what's so important about this Remnant. It's just one planet, after all."

"Whatever it is, it must be important."

* * *

"Yes! Yes, we done it!"

OH, YOU'VE FINALLY GOTTEN US THROUGH THAT FUCKING WALL, FAGGOT?"

"This… maybe the case."

"Wonderful! I can't wait to spread my love among these people. Who are we sending in first?"

"I know just what we should send. I always have had a fetish for their kind."

* * *

Weiss threw herself down on top of her bed. She had just gotten off the plane from Vale. She did not want to be here, but try as she might, she was unable to convince her father to let her stay. _'_ _Insufferable man!'_ He hadn't even given her the chance to say good-bye to her friends. Apparently, she was "above that" or something. There was a knock at her door.

"Who is it?" Weiss mumbled through her pillow. The door opened.

"It's just me, Ms. Schnee. I came to see if you would like something to drink." Weiss flipped herself over and forced herself to sit up.

"Thank you, Klein. Some coffee would be nice."

"As you wish," Klein said as he bowed out. Weiss got up. She still had to unpack everything. She opened her suitcase and stated pulling out clothes, some to be laundered, some to be hung up, others to be folded away. Within moments of starting, there was another knock at the door. She raced to open it, expecting to find Klein waiting there.

When Weiss opened the door she was disappointed to find that it was not Klein who had knocked, but rather, her younger brother Whitley.

"What do you want?"

In a mockingly innocent tone, Whitley responded, "I was just checking in on my dear sister,"

"You're never this nice unless you did something. What did you do?"

"Well, if you're going to be that way. Father told me that he's meeting an Imperial delegation and he wants you to be there, it's group of engineers or something. They should arrive in about thirty minutes."

"Fine. Tell him I'll be there." _'It's "Enginseers" dumbass,'_ Weiss thought. She didn't bother correcting him out loud though. Better to let him make a fool of himself. Whitley gave a mocking bow and walked away. Weiss watched as he left, making sure the little sneak didn't try anything. She was about to close the door again when Klein arrived with her coffee. She took the coffee and thanked Klein. Setting it on the bedside table after taking a sip, Weiss began to get clean up. Thirty minutes passed quickly, with the rest of the coffee, and Weiss was walking down the hall.

Weiss arrived in the main hall of Schnee Manor right as the doorbell rang. A servant opened the door to reveal seven short, heavily beaded men, just as her father came down the stairs. _'They kind of look like Dwarves,'_ Weiss thought.

"Greetings, beardlings! We're here to meet with the owner of the Schnee Dust Company," one of them said.

"Who are you?" Jacques Schnee said, offended at the unkempt men on his doorstep. "And what business do you have with me?"

"I'm Urist McDoctor, and these other six are Urist McDopey, Urist McBashful, Urist McGrumpy, Urist McSneezy, Urist McSleepy, and Urist McHappy," said Urist McDoctor, pointing to each of the Urists in turn. "We're the representatives from the Engineers Guild you're supposed to meet with."

"Wait, Engineers Guild? I thought Imperial technology was maintained by the Mechanicus," Weiss interrupted.

"Normally, yes. However, due to the Guild's well-established reputation by the time we were discovered by the Imperium, the Mechanicus saw fit to leave us be. A more detailed explanation can wait for later; right now we're hungry!"

"Yes, yes, come with me then. The dining hall is right this way," Jacques lead the strange men away and Weiss followed. "If I remember correctly, you wanted to take a tour of one of our facilities?"

"Aye, tha's correct, beardling. But business later," the group entered the dining hall. The table was already set, and the nine sat down. "For now, we feast."

Jacques, somewhat put off by the directness of his guests, called for drinks. "What would you gentlemen like to drink? We have some of the finest wines-"

"Wine's for fucking pansies! Give us your strongest ale, now 'at a real drink!"

"Urist! Hold your temper, lad! Ye cannae just go insultin' our host like that!" Urist McGrumpy only gave an agitated noise in response. Urist McDoctor turned to Jacques.

"Sorry about that. It's just how he is. Although we would prefer ale if ye have it. If not we can settle fer yer fermented ploin-juice."

"Unfortunately, we do not have such, ahem, _coarse_ drinks. Wine will have to suffice."

"Ah well. What's on the menu then?"

"It is lunch, so we will be having a salad, followed by a soup, and finished with roast, with bread and butter being served throughout the meal."

"But I'm allergic to salad-" Urist McSneezy muttered under his breath.

After finishing the meal, and waking Urist McSleepy up so he wouldn't drown in his soup, Urist McDoctor finally broached the subject they were gathered for.

"Alright beardling," Urist McDoctor began, while waking Urist McSpleepy up again, "As ye know, Remnant is being brought into the Imperium." After getting a nod from Jacques he continued, "and ye all are a tech company."

"Of course,"

"meaning ye'll either be brought into Mechanicus or us, the Engineers' Guild."

"What? I won't stand for this!" Jacques began, enraged by the what the short men were telling him.

' _Why are they so short?'_ ran through Weiss's mind again.

"It's not what ye'll stand for. It's what will happen. Technology ain't exactly a free industry in the Imperium. Which leaves ye with a choice. Either us or the Mechanicus, who put the spiritual aspect of technology before the practical aspect."

"Technology has a spiritual aspect?" Jacques asked, starting to become skeptical about the authenticity of these Engineers.

Unexpectedly, it was Weiss who answered. "Yes, I remember. P. Fletcher mentioned something about machine spirits. I don't remember much, since it was a while ago."

"So ye've spoken with the Inquisitor, have ye, lassie?"

"Not much. He was a teacher at Beacon." Thinking of Beacon brought back memories of the Fall. Weiss struggled to keep her pain from her face. "Is he alright?" she asked, recalling he was at the top with Pyrrha.

"Ach, he'll be fine. Takes more 'an 'at to kill an Inquisitor," Urist McDoctor said. "Now, since ye didn't know about the Engineers' Guild, I'm not sure what he told ye about the Squats and how we handle technology-"

"Squats?" asked Weiss.

"He didn't even tell ye about us?" Urist McGrumpy exclaimed. "We keep the _Rose_ 's engines running and _this_ is how he repays us!"

"And by keeping the Inquisition off our backs," Urist McHappy pointed out. "Something I'm rather grateful for,"

"We dinnae come 'ere to discuss the Inquisitor." Urist McDoctor broke in. Turning back to Jacques, he got the discussion back on topic. "Should ye choose us we'll let ye stay in charge, and if, for some reason, we need to get rid of ye, ye'll be compensated. I can't say the same for the Mechanicus"

"You understand that I can't give a definite answer now,"

"Of course, just be sure to tell us your decision before the Mechanicus get ye,"

"I'll think on it."

"Very well. We'll be leaving now then." The Squats all got up, Urist McDopey waking up Urist McSleepy once again, and walked with Jacques and Weiss to the door. Once the door closed behind the last Squat, Jacques turned to Weiss.

"What do you think about them?" he asked.

"Huh? Oh, the Squats? They're, um, interesting,"

Jacques chuckled. "Yes, I don't think I could find a better word for them. What do you think we should do?"

"From my little knowledge of the Mechanicus, I think they're right. The Mechanicus won't take kindly to us being separate from them, but at least if we join the Engineers' Guild we'll have protection,"

"You don't think we can protect ourselves?"

"Not against the Mechanicus. From what P. Fletcher said it sounds like even the Inquisition is afraid to mess with them. If we don't choose them or the Engineers' Guild they'll likely have us removed and seize the company,"

Jacques considered what his daughter had told him.

* * *

Salem grinned as she watched the dark waters. As Malice's strength grew, the barrier between this world and the others gave her such opportunity to create new forms of Grimm. Already she had made something she called "Umbrans," and soon they would be sent out. They were just one of a few. She had yet to finish her masterpiece, what would be her greatest creation, but she was close. So very close. Nothing would be able to stop her when she did. She nodded to herself contentedly as she saw the back of one of her newest creations break the surface of the water and sink back under, swimming off in the direction of Menagerie.

* * *

Blake watched as the boat drew away from the dock. She was standing in a small hole in the crowd on board. The white stripe in her hair marked her out as a skunk Faunus, the only people who wore their hair as she did. Quite frankly, she understood why they tried to stay away from her. Even ones whose trait wasn't the self-defense mechanism had a reputation for being rather gassy. Unfortunate, as she wasn't actually a skunk Faunus.

As the boat pulled out of shouting distance of the dock people began to drift below deck, to get set up in their various cabins. Blake wanted to stay above to savor the fresh salt breeze. She chuckled at that thought. She wandered over to the bow of the deck and looked over as the ship sped through the water. They were out of sight by now, and Blake just relished the feeling of breeze. She stood looking over for many hours, and the sun was starting to sink before she roused herself from her waking dream.

She made her way to her cabin, her bags set neatly inside where one of the crew members had left it. She unpacked and got ready for bed. She pulled out a book, _Ninjas of Love_ , and set it on the table. She pulled out her pajamas and went to the en suite bathroom. It was small, but it was nice. Towels lay stacked on a rack above the toilet, and the shower curtain was pulled back revealing an empty shower. After undressing and showering, she put on her pajamas, leaving her day clothes where they lay. She would deal with them later. She left the bathroom and surveyed her cabin one last time before turning in. Lying down on the bed she sighed. She was finally going home.

* * *

"She should count herself blessed to have received such a gift from the Omnissiah," said Zora.

Ruby shook her head. "She doesn't see it that way. To her you violated her by putting that arm on her while she was out. We don't have the same, uh, _attitude_ , about technology as you do."

"I don't understand why she's still so mad about it, even accounting for cultural differences. There's no reason for her to want to only have one arm." As she said this, Zora caught a glimpse of Yang walking down the hall, her red eyes seething like a Khornate's. Under her gaze, even Zora's metal bits shivered. Yang passed further down, out of sight.

"That's the thing. It's really not a big deal. In fact I kind of wish I could lose an arm if it means getting one of those. I suspect there's something else." It took Ruby a moment to realize exactly what she said. "Oh Omnissiah, I didn't mean it like that!"

Zora placed a comforting arm on Ruby's shoulder. "It's alright, we all do something similar."

"No it's not! Normal people don't want to _lose_ arms! Especially not after seeing a family member lose one!" She was starting to tear up from the guilt of being so callous to Yang's condition.

"Who said you were normal?" Zora said in an attempt to comfort the girl. "You're special, just like me, just like every one of my colleagues." Ruby sniffling started to stop at this.

"Really?"

"Yes, Ruby. You belong in the Mechanicus. You could join, if you wanted."

Wiping her eyes, Ruby said, "Thank you, Zora. I'll consider it, but I don't think I'm ready to make that sort of decision. Not yet."

"There's no need to make a decision yet. Just keep it in mind as you continue your training."

"About that," Zora tilted her head questioningly, "me and the rest of JNPR were thinking about going to Mistral to enroll in the academy there. I'm not saying you can come along, but if you just _happened_ to stumble across us as we left tonight, I won't make you go away."

Zora would've smiled if she still could. As it was, her eyelights reflected her emotions. "Thank you, Ruby, I just might take the chance to convince you to finally join the Mechanicus."

"Heh, it's going to be a while before I make a decision either way." They sat for a short while.

"Well, I suppose I should be going. I still have work to do. But give me a call if you need anything, and I'll see what I can do," Zora said, rising to leave. Ruby got up with her and walked to the door. Saying good-bye one last time and giving the techpriestess a hug as she left, Ruby closed the door. She flopped back down on the couch and turned the television on, hoping to find something other than the Fall on. There wasn't. She went to her room and started to pack what she could. It would be a long journey to Mistral.

* * *

Pyrrha gasped as she woke. She was surrounded by a bright light, and she couldn't see. She tried blinking to make the brightness go away, but no, it really was that bright. She could feel something under her, something soft. It wasn't quite like grass, but it was similar.

" _Carpet,"_ she realized. The aromas her nose detected reminded her of home, but something was off. The scent of flowers from the garden, and fresh baked cookies from the kitchen were there, but there was something extra, something more that was foreign, yet familiar. It all came together to make her heart beat a little faster. As she sat up her eyes began to get used to the brightness around her. It looked like her living room back in Mistral, but everything was golden. Everything with the exception of a noodly blonde boy standing in the corner with a bunny hoodie. That's when she recognized the extra scent.

" _Jaune. It's the smell of him. How did I not recognize it earlier?"_ As she struggled to her feet, Jaune walked over to lend her a hand.

"Tell me, what do you remember last?"

Pyrrha was startled by Jaune's abruptness, but did as asked anyways. "Um, well, I was at the top of Beacon Tower, on my hands and knees. Cinder was about to shoot me, but a form I couldn't recognize flew in front just before it hit. Then there was a bang and everything went white."

Jaune shook his head. "That was Jan Strzałkastwórca. You know him as James Fletcher. He saved your life, Pyrrha."

"Oh," she looked down at her hands, the weight of Jaune's words weighing on her.

"What is this place? Why is everything gold?"

"You are in a coma Pyrrha. The events of that night put too much strain on you. And everything's gold because I like gold. It's a good color."

"This isn't real then. This is a dream?"

"Real is what you make of it. This vision can help if you accept it as real."

"If this is a dream, then you aren't really Jaune. You're just part of my subconscious or something."

"Not quite. I'm not Jaune, but I'm not your subconscious either."

"Then what are you?"

The Jaune-figure shrugged. "I am. Different cultures call me different things. Carrion Lord, King of Those That Must Be Killed, Human Leader, Da Flash Boss. What you call me is not important."

"What do you want with me?"

"This world is bright. But for long it has had the taint of Chaos. Daemons freely prowl the surface, and humanity hangs by a thread. I want your and your friends' help in cleansing it."

"You mean the Grimm? We all want them gone. The Huntsmen and Huntresses dedicate their lives to exterminating the Grimm."

"And yet, it is not enough. But now there is a chance. One of my Inquisitors has been stranded on your planet, with no way to get a message through. I want you to tell him that even so, help is on the way. Tell him I send great winged warriors to aide him, accompanied by my Custodians and the most power psyker at my disposal."

As the Jaune-figure said these things, Pyrrha began to understand. She was speaking with the God-Emperor of Mankind himself. She could tell, by looking into those deep blue eyes, eyes that had seen millennia. In them she saw a great, profound love that she would never be able to explain. She did the only thing that occurred to her. She dropped to one knee and bowed before him.

Shakily, she said, "It will be as you command, my God."

"Don't call me that."


	22. Chapter 22

A Reasonable Crusade

Part IV: Lux Fractus

Chapter II: Journeys

The cool breeze ruffled their clothes as they walked along the road, the sound of crunching gravel permeating the air. Birds chirped, and the sun rested just above the treetops. The group stood in on the road in the middle of a small clearing.

"It's starting to get late. Think we should make camp here?" Ruby asked.

Ruby's companions shrugged and she lead them down to the far side of the clearing. RNJR set up camp and ate trail mix from their bags. Zora merely drank some sacred unguents. Once darkness fell they sat around the fire, talking about plans for the trip. When Jaune looked up he thought he could see a blue glow coming from the other side of the clearing.

"Um, guys? Are you seeing that glow over there?" Sure enough, when the rest looked they too could see the strange blue glow.

"We should probably see what that is." Ren said.

"But what if it's dangerous?" Jaune protested.

"Even more reason to see it." Ruby pointed out. "Come on, we're going to find out what it is."

Jaune whimpered in protest as the rest readied their weapons. Eventually he too readied his sword and shield, and the group snuck forward together towards the source of the blue light.

"It's a blue torch. Just sitting there." Ruby said once she could see it. Zora tried scanning it, but the torch resisted. In the end, she was unable to determine why it glowed blue.

Jaune, strangely intrigued by torch, left the group and approached it. As he did so, the group heard a voice behind them.

"Got a good selection of things on sale, Stranger…" the Merchant rasped.

"GAH! Don't sneak up on us like that!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Who are you?" Ren asked.

"Just a travelling merchant, stranger. You want to buy something?"

Team RNJR looked at what's for sale. Unfortunately, none of them were famous enough to use Renown to make purchases, and the Merchant did not yet accept Remnanti Lien. Zora, however, was able to purchase an archaeotech volkite charger. As a group they requisition more ammunition for everyone.

"Heh heh heh… thank you," the Merchant rasped as he disappears behind a tree. Jaune looked behind the tree. The Merchant was not there.

"Where'd he go?" Jaune asked. No one knew the answer to his question, and were quite perturbed by the Merchant's disappearance. After checking to make sure the stuff he sold them was still there, they went back to camp and rested until dawn.

* * *

Weiss looked out over the dust processing facility as the bullhead circled over. It was heading towards a small landing pad towards the perimeter of the facility. Rain streamed down the window as she looked.

"Alright, you are cleared for landing," the on board radio called. The craft started to turn down.

"Bloody took them long enough," muttered Urist McGrumpy. Weiss sighed. She was supposed to be taking these seven on a tour through this facility, but Urist McGrumpy would just not stop complaining. The bullhead landed and the doors opened. Weiss lead the seven Engineers' Guild representatives out where they were greeted by the facility manager himself.

"Greetings, Ms. Schnee," the deathly pale man said, "Come with me. We have prepared a banquet in anticipation for your arrival." The manager licked him lips hungrily as he turned around. He walked jerkily as he led them towards the facility. Guards filled in around the eight visitors as they progressed, moving with the same jerky movements as the manager. Once they entered the building they were lead down many passage ways, guards stationed at regular intervals. Weiss began to become unnerved as she looked at them. They stood too tall, too straight and seemed to stare down at her with greedy eyes. Soon they came to a pair of steel double doors.

"It is right in here. Ladies first," The manager said, holding the door open. Inside was a waiter with his back to them making last minute adjustments to the table. On hearing the door open he turned his head around. Only his head.

"What the-" Weiss's exclamation was cut short as a tremendous force knocked her to the side of the room. She crashed into the wall a good twenty or so feet away from where she originally stood. The manager advanced on her shakily, and she saw the Urists wrestling with the guards outside.

"The feast is ready," the manager said, "but I think I'll savor this one before Lord De Iyeh'Oeh comes down."

"Who?" Weiss tried to say, but the manager was already upon her. He grabbed her face, finger penetrating aura and skin with ease. "Aaauughhh!" she screamed, seeing the pulsing of his fingers, feeling her blood drain away. Oddly, rather than fear all she felt was disbelief. Disbelief that she had been defeated so easily, that she was slowly dying, that vampires, for that was surely what this creature was, were real.

Weiss collected herself. _'No! I am a Schnee! I will not go down passively!'_ With an effort she reached for Myrtenaster, and swung at the manager. A stream of fire raked across him, forcing him back as he screamed in pain.

As the former human died he cried out, "My Lord! Come and avenge me!" He expired as the Squats fought off the guards that attacked them and they pulled the doors closed. The body of the waiter lay scorched at their feet.

"What was that?" Weiss yelled, demanding an answer.

"Vampire zombies. Means there's a Warp Vampire somewhere," as Urist McDoctor answered the heiress's question, a portion of the ceiling collapsed, sending dust into the air. After a bit of coughing he finished by saying, "around here," as he watched the great, leathery, winged form rise from the rubble.

"WWRRYYYYYYYYY" it screeched as it charged the Squats. They opened fire on it with lasguns. Weiss got up and steadied herself as a wave of nausea hit. She had lost a sizable amount of blood.

As the Vampire closed to melee with the Squats, the ranged specialists drew away, leaving Urist McGrumpy to face the Vampire alone. As the Vampire swung at the Urist, he hefted a large hammer and brought it crashing down on the Warp creature's head. When the hammer hit there was a bright flash of light as the Vampire's body dissipated.

"I'll bet yer glad Rockfist let me bring this weapon with us! It's Sunburst quality saved yer arses today!" Urist McGrumpy shouted at the rest of the Squats. Urist McDoctor ignored him as he rushed over to Weiss

"Are ye okay lass?"

"I'm fine." Weiss said, leaning on Myrtenaster. "We should be going now." A clang on the door.

"Alright, but we'll have te fight our way out. You ready for this?" Weiss steeled herself and nodded. They each checked their weapons and put in fresh battery packs. The Squats opened the doors to a wandering zombie, and attacked.

* * *

Blake was so glad she chose to sail home rather than fly. Right now she was sitting on a lawn chair on the boat's deck, watching as two human children played around with action figures. One of them had a Fightin' Felleye Brynjol Dreadnought, the other a Cogitator Captain Cortain (with Ordeci Thanatar!). It was truly amazing how quickly Imperial culture was overrunning Remnant. Not only were there the action figures, but new TV shows as well. Most stores even accepted Imperial Thrones now.

On the topic of TV shows, a new one would be coming out tonight, called _Excelsus: A Midsummer Knight's Dream_. So far, each of the Imperial shows to have been released on Remnant were quite interesting, and she was excited to see what this one held. With this one, she now had at least one show to watch each day on the way home.

There was of course _Squat Crusade: The Musical_. She was still trying to figure out what had happened to the Ragebeard character. He just stopped showing up one episode, and none of the characters seemed to acknowledge he ever existed.

 _FioFio's Bizarre Adventure_ and _Super Deserter Gue'vesa Action Heroes_ were interesting shows, though not strictly Imperial. They were Tau productions, and looked strikingly like anime. Currently she was looking for subtitled versions in the original Tau.

Blake put these thought out of her head as she breathed in the salt air, feeling the warm sunshine and cool wind on her face. It very pleasant. So pleasant, in fact, that she had lost a few Insanity Points, something she needed after the absolute catastrophe that was the Fall. She reflected on how nice it was to have her ears out in the open again. With her white streak people assumed she was Faunus, so there wasn't really any point in hiding it, even if they guessed the wrong type. She had dropped the bow soon after getting on the ship, letting it float away in the water. She closed her eyes as she let the steady rocking of the boat lull her to sleep.

* * *

Yang hit Taiyang. A resounding smack issued forth as her prosthetic fist connect with his jaw. Taiyang stumbled back. He moved his jaw left and right to make sure it was fine.

"That was quite a hit. But it will take more than that to take me down," Taiyang said, squaring up again. They went back to fighting. Yang lost herself in the rhythm of the fight. Punching, dodging, blocking, they continued this way for a while. Yang found it helped her calm down, helped her see her situation in a more reasonable light. She wasn't angry that she had lost her arm, or even that it had been removed so easily, though that was annoying. What hurt her most at first was the fact that they hadn't bothered to ask her consent. Then she found out Blake had abandoned all of them and Weiss was being taken back to Atlas. She had hoped to at least have them by her side as she went through this. But the worst was when Ruby disappeared. One day she just up and left, just like her mother.

' _That's not quite fair. At least Ruby left a note, unlike Raven.'_ Still, it hurt Yang that her sister had not wanted to take her with her, or even to say goodbye face to face.

"You're thinking about it again," Taiyang said, interrupting her reverie.

"Wha-? How did you know?"

"I've known you almost eighteen years now Yang. You're also my daughter. I can tell when something's upsetting you." A pause. "You sure you still don't want to talk about it?"

"Yes."

Taiyang shrugged. They went back to sparring.

* * *

James strode through towards the bridge of the _Black Rose_. He had been released from the medicae ward recently, and was already having a shitty day. It had not even been a day yet, and already he was summoned to his ship for an unspecified emergency. The ship was on high alert.

As the door closed behind James he was already asking for a report.

"Sir, we've detected a ZFR Hyperspace signature. They should be materializing any moment now."

"ZFR Hyperspace? But that's Tau. How in the name of Mary did those God-Emperor damned goats get here?" As he said this, he saw a blue hole open up into ZFR Hyperspace. Out of it came a Custodian-class Battleship covered with neon lights.

"Fuck, we can't take that. Not head on. Hail them."

"Sir we're getting a message from them!"

"Then open communications, kurwa!"

The communications adept did as instructed. A hologram popped up, displaying the purple armored form of a techmarine. Passing his Lore (Heraldry) check, James recognized the symbol of his shoulder pad as a panther, making him a member of the Black Panthers.

"Jamal? How did you even get here?" Before the techmarine could answer he was joined by two more figures. One the purple-clad form of a Dark Eldar Archon, the other, a Tau in a white suit and trilby with a cheery smile on his face. He was smoking a cigar.

"Khodexus 'ere found out one of da Dolmen Gates the Oldies used to hop between worlds had reopened. I figured I might as well make some moolah from it."

"What're you going to do? Sell dolls to the few million Humans down there?"

"Dat's exactly what I've been doing. I 'ad fronts 'ere for a while, I's just coming to check in on how my Greater Good is doing." Korst'la X, for that is who this Capitalist Tau must be, took the cigar out of his mouth and a concerned frown settled on his face. "Besides, I 'eard dere might be troubled 'ere. Trouble that could jeopardize my bottom line, ya see."

"So you know that the planet is infested with daemons?"

"Of course I do. I own at least a third of the businesses down there by now."

"So you've come here to protect your profits. I must say, no matter how selfish your reasons are, House troops will be a great boon to our forces here."

"Yes, yes, of course. I can send my boys down as soon as you pay up."

"Pay up?"

"Yeah. You don't think I'm here to do charity work, do ya?"

"How's this for payment: I don't revoke your family's Inquisitorial sanction."

Korst'la let out a great laugh. "You can't do that. You'ze just an Inquisitor. I'm under the protection of Lord Inquisitor Doggfather."

James shook his head. "It's been almost thirty years since we last met. You were just a child. A lot has changed since then. You see, I too am an Lord Inquisitor." There was a moment of silence as a shocked look spread over Korst'la's face while Khodexus face-palmed. It looked like Korst'la was about to give in to the threat. Then Jamal spoke up.

"Wait, wasn't the Inquisition disbanded?" Jamal didn't realize what he had just done. A smile spread across Korst'la's face as he remembered this vital fact.

"Oh yeah, you don't has any authority no mores. You can't get me unsanctioned." James glared at Jamal. He couldn't see any other way of bullying Korst'la into giving him what he wanted.

"Alright, I'll pay. Name your price."

* * *

Alfredus moved quietly through the trees, despite his large size. He had been stalking this pack of beowulves for three days now, hoping they would lead him to a larger congregation.

He had been deployed to Anima when pict-recordings had discovered that the Grimm Daemons were seemed heading to a spot just outside the city of Mistral, in one of the mountains. It looked like they were preparing for another Fall.

The beowulves turned into a cave. Alfredus followed behind, just at the edge of the range he could still accurately shoot with his plasma gun. He had his active camouflage so he did not need to worry about being spotted by the daemons.

The cave he followed the daemons into was not a nice cave. It was moist, and the ceiling was constantly dripping water. Little puddles lay all across the floor, making stealth even harder. Up ahead he saw the beowulves jump over a ledge. Dropping prone and crawling up to it, what he saw would have been terrifying if he did not Know No Fear.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Grimm Daemons and other Malician Daemons had gathered there, and more were trickling in each moment.

"This is Alfredus," he said into his vox. "I have important information."

* * *

Marion walked through the woods. Taking a left, she walked into a clearing. In it, she could see two figures sparring in front of a house.

"Hey!" she called out. The two broke apart.

"Hey!" replied the man as he walked towards her. The girl stayed behind.

"I see Yang's back on her feet. How's she holding up?"

"She's doing alright. Still won't talk about what's upsetting her though."

"I'm can hear you! I'm right here!"

"Then why don't you join us?"

"Well, maybe I don't want to."

"Then don't get mad."

"Don't get mad? I'm right here and you're talking about me like I'm not even here!"

"I said you could join us."

"You're not getting the point! It's rude to talk about people in front of their faces!"

"Would you rather we talk about you behind your back?"

"No!"

"Then what's the problem?"

"Ugh, let's just get this checkup over with."

"If you wish." Marion followed Yang and Taiyang into the house. She poked and prodded Yang all over, and had her do some arm exercises. She finished with a strength test, made the necessary adjustments, and left. Before she left she said "I'll be back next week. Keep training, and call me if anything hurts or feels wrong. And whatever you do, do not tinker with your arm."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Marion heard Yang grumble as the door closed.

* * *

Zora lay down in her sleeping bag. She had been awake for a while. She didn't really need to sleep yet, so she kept her processors running. She also was paying particular attention to their surroundings, as she did not want to be caught off guard if something came at them. Nothing did. At least, not yet. Sure, a few rabbits had wondered by, as had a few foxes and crows, but none of those things were really dangerous.

A stick snapped. Immediately, Zora snapped up, her new volkite charger coming up. The deer, startled, ran off into the woods. Zora lay down again, putting her charger under her robes. More time passed, and Zora's thoughts began to wonder.

' _I wonder how James is doing. I hope he wakes up soon. The men feel unsure without him. He's had them too long for their own good. They can't properly follow orders from someone else. Another thing I'll have to include in my report. Omnissiah, I hope it doesn't get him in trouble. But what he's doing could be dangerous, especially if he falls._


	23. Chapter 23

A Reasonable Crusade

Part IV: Lux Fractus

Chapter III: The Others

Pyrrha was still in the Golden Place. It was truly an amazing place and it filled her with such euphoria that all other joy she had known paled in comparison. All other joy, that is, besides time she spent with Jaune. That still did not come close to the wonder of this place.

She was now in the Imperial Palace, or its reflection in the Golden Place. Here lingered the scents of incense, age, and gunpowder. The Emperor had taken her and shown her what was really at stake should they lose on Remnant. Should Remnant fall, then four relics of immense power would fall into the hands of Malice. With these four, he would be able to conquer the galaxy. Perhaps even more.

"Before I send you back I must give you a final warning," the Emperor said, now appearing as a bronze skinned man in golden armor.

"Huh?"

"The barriers between worlds are weakening. That is how Cegorach was able to send my Inquisitor to Remnant in the first place. A great event is going to happen, and as time marches closer to it, the walls between multiverses weaken. Creatures from other worlds will be able to cross into ours, creatures unfamiliar to both Imperial and Remnanti. What they will be, even I do not know, but I do know that they will come against us. Tell the others to be careful."

"I will."

"Now one last thing: Do not buy into the lies of the Imperial Creed. Where ever you go, spread the Imperial Truth. Now go, my child. You world needs you."

With that, Pyrrha awoke with a gasp.

* * *

Yusuf looked over the field surrounding the village. Tomorrow he will have been stationed here for a week. It was a pleasant village, so he did not mind, even if it was unseemly cold and full of kafir who did not worship the God-Emperor, Peace Be Upon Him. He continued his patrol around the village, vigilant for any sign of Grimm activity. There was none by the time he finished.

Having finished his patrol, Yusuf headed over to the town hall at the village center, which was being used as their barracks. It was fortunate the villagers had offered it, otherwise they might have had to be quartered in their homes.

Entering the makeshift barrack, he spotted some guardsmen dicing. One was bare-chested and wearing a skirt.

"Gawyn, my friend! You still wear that skirt?" Yusuf called out to the bare-chested man.

"It's not a skirt! It's a _kilt_ ," he retorted. Gawyn got very defensive whenever anybody called him out on his skirt.

"Whatever you say my friend," Yusuf said as he joined the group.

The alarm blared.

Immediately the guardsmen were on their feet, grasping for weapons. Yusuf was first, not even having set his down yet. He ran outside into a great commotion.

"To arms! To arms!" a guardsman was shouting as he ran. "Bandit attack!" He was running from the perimeter of the village. Yusuf grabbed him as he passed by.

"What's happening?"

"Bandits! I saw them down the road! There's dozens, maybe a hundred of them!"

"Go! Tell the commander!" The guardsman ran off to the town hall. Yusuf ran the way the guardsman had come from. Soon, Gawyn, chest still bared and waist in a skirt, along with some other guardsmen joined him. They quickly reached the edge of the village. Just as Yusuf took up position behind a building, he saw a missile fly from the top of a tree, crashing into the village behind him. Then there was yelling and his eyes were drawn back to the forest. Yusuf turned to see many bandits charging from the forest, autoguns firing.

Yusuf and his fellows opened fire on the bandits. Those without Aura were quickly cooked through their leathers, but the Aura users were tough. As they got closer the survivors drew knives and swords, rushing into melee. One charged Yusuf, who cried as he batted away the bandit's sword. Countering with a thrust, his bayonet bounced off the bandit's leathers. He took the opportunity to unload a semi-auto blast into the bandit at point blank. His aura broke, and he stumbled back.

Before either was able to make another strike, a great sword separated the bandits head from his shoulders. Gawyn picked up the freshly severed head and tossed it at the next wave of bandits that were making for the village, screaming, "There can be only one!" as he did.

Firing at the bandits, who had now stopped and were possibly pondering whether they should run, Yusuf called out, "You filthy kill-stealer! He was mine!" Gawyn stuck his tongue out and flashed him. So barbaric. A few bandits went down to las blasts and their morale broke. The surviving guardsmen and villagers started cheering as they saw the enemy route before them.

Then a human, clad in scaly black armor with a black cloak and an eyeless Grimm mask over his face appeared from the woods. In an instant a black blade was out, one of the bandits falling, his head in the man's hand. He was waving his sword at Yusuf and the defenders, obviously ordering the bandits to press their assault.

"Concentrate fire on their Commissar!" Yusuf called, firing at the bandit Commissar. The bandits were running towards them again, and the defenders started firing again. More bandits fell, as did villagers and guardsmen. Yusuf heard his lasgun click empty, not having hit the Commissar once. The way he slipped between shots seemed snake-like, especially combined with his scaly armor. Yusuf noticed that the cloak did not stir when the man moved, remaining perfectly still. He was greatly discomforted by the sight. Ejecting the empty pack and slamming a new one in, Yusuf could saw the last bandit go down. He could still hear fighting elsewhere in the village, but he was more concerned with how close the Commissar was getting.

One of the guardsmen, a melee specialist, charged at the man, chainsword revving. The man flicked away the blade like it was nothing, stepped past the guardsman, and hamstringed him with his sword. The guardsman, a woman if Yusuf was guessing by the pitch, screamed in pain and went down. The man walked past her without a glance. Yusuf could see the wound was already starting to blacken.

Now that the Commissar was closer Yusuf could make out more detail. What he had though was a mask before he could now tell was the man's actual face. It was not a human that they fought, but rather one of the Grimm Daemons native to this planet. Yusuf looked to his side, keeping an eye on the Daemon. The natives had recognized it for what it was, and were terribly frightened.

"What is that?" One of the villagers asked, not expecting any real answer. The Daemon opened its mouth in response.

"Fools," the grating voice spilled out, "we are the Great Lady's newest creatures. We will visit destruction upon y-" it was cut off by a blast from Gawyn's laspistol.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, can you shut up and die now, you cunt?"

"You should not have done that." The Daemon said, rolling its shoulder where the blast hit, "for we have," the creature stepped into the shadow of a building and disappeared. It reappeared in a shadow next to Gawyn, and stuck its sword through a guardsman next to him. "many surprises," the Daemon finished, as it drew its blade from the soldier. Gawyn made a panicked swing and took its head off at the neck before it could react. The guardsmen nearest it jumped back as it started flailing around headless. One unfortunate fellow was not quick enough and got nicked by the thrashing blade across the knuckles. He screamed as the cut started to blacken.

The survivors fired into the Daemon's body, since it had not dissipated. After a full minute, and the body not dissolving, they gave up. They had to save ammo in case there were more. The guardsman who had gotten a hand wound had fallen to the ground and another went to check on him. Dead. When they checked on the guardswoman it was the same.

Yusuf picked up her body so it could be disposed of properly. Looking up, he saw a red-robed woman standing by the edge of the forest. She drew a large, thin, red bladed sword from an overly large sheath. She stabbed the air with it and drew a circle, opening some sort of vortex. When the vortex closed she was gone. Whoever it was, she was probably with the bandits. She had escaped and nothing could be done.

Yusuf carried the guardswoman back to the town hall, where the defenders were regrouping after the battle. Already the villagers were starting a commotion.

"What were those things?"

"Humans and Grimm fighting side by side?"

"They didn't look like any Grimm _I've_ ever seen!"

"Grimm don't talk!"

"They were like, half-men, half-Grimm."

Many more questions and exclamations filled the air. Yusuf dumped the body with the rest, then joined ranks with the rest of the guardsmen.

"Order!" the commander shouted. Everyone started to quiet down. "Nobody panic! That will just bring more Grimm down on us." The villagers finished quieting down, meeting his words with resigned grumbles. "Let us dispose of the dead and make fortifications. They will surely come back. I will fill out a report and call for reinforcements. Any information on these new Grimm will be welcome."

* * *

Shas'Vre Vior'la Be'gel Mont'yr sat in the cloaked Phantomfish, checking his pulse blaster. It was not a weapon designed for the open field, having a max range of fifty five of the Gue'la meters. Fortunately they would be heading into the caves, were its spread would be devastating. But just in case he needed to shoot far, or ran out of ammo he also carried a Model K Single Action Mercenary and a Model 41873 Rifle. The Phantomfish stopped and engaged its grav-lifts, sending his squad to the surface. Just before he went down he grabbed the Ork Choppa that had earned him his name and strapped it to his side.

The five-man squad landed on the ground near the mouth of a cave system. Mezatahr, the Kabalite Warrior and Derareaq, the Wych Cultist, took point by the cave mouth, ready to destroy anything that came out. Fio'El Fal'Shia Kor'ves sent a gun drone in to scout the inside of the cave. Once it was confirmed that the mouth was clear Beg'el and Thomas Thompson went in, guns raised.

The squad moved through the dry cave. Kor'ves had moved his shield drone in front of the group to protect them, and had sent the marker light drone up too. Beg'el and Thomas were behind the drones and Kor'ves right behind them. The Dark Eldar took the rear. After a short time the Dark Eldar indicated that they heard voices up ahead. They sent the Wych ahead to see how far ahead and when she returned joy spread through the group. The voices up ahead were White Fang guards standing watch over a bunch of boxes.

"Alright, lets fight 'em, then loot 'em. For our Greater Good!" Beg'el shout-whispered.

"For our Greater Good!" the rest repeated. The team advanced quickly and quietly. Around a bend in the cave a great cavern was visible. In the cavern was filled with crates and boxes, some with a snowflake on the sides, some with other symbols. There were five guards standing next to one of the crates.

"Alright, there's five of them, five of us – wait, what are you doing?" Thomas ignored Beg'el as he walked right out into the open, his gun slung over his back. He made it almost half way to the guards before they noticed.

"Hey! What are you doing here! What's that on your back?" One of the guards screamed as the rest grabbed their weapons.

"Well, I was walking around the forest, when I saw a cave. I decided I'd check it out, and now I'm lost. Would you fellows mind telling me where I am?"

"You got lost and wondered into the largest White Fang base in five hundred miles. How do you not know where you are?"

"I am not a bright person."

"Well, what's that on your back?"

"Oh, that? It's just a piano."

"That's most definitely not a piano."

"But it is! It's called the Studio 69 Piano! You wanna know why?"

"Why?"

"This is why," Thomas said as he used Quick Draw to grab his gun before any could react. He let out a full auto burst into the Fang guards, catching them by surprise. They tried to scatter, but proved too slow and were mown down. Soon the gun clicked empty.

Beg'el lead the rest of the squad as they rejoined with Thomas.

"You just used a full drum of pulse rounds in one encounter, shitbrain! You gotta be more careful!"

Thomas only smiled and walked further into the cavern.

* * *

"My my, Slaanesh, I never thought you would such a great tactician, seeing what an abso-fucking-lutely wonderful fucking job those Vampires did," Khorne taunted.

"As I recall, it was all of us who decided to send them," she countered.

"Whatever. The next ones we send will have to actually do something."

"Hey, the Vampires did take out some of their production facilities."

"But we need them to focus on Malice's servants. He's the one that poses the biggest threat to us now."

"Well then, my green buddy, who do you suggest we send?"

"I'm not green."

"Or _are_ you? BO- ack!" Khorne had his meaty fist around Tzeentch's neck.

"Do not try that with me, little shellfish," Khorne tossed him to the side. "I suggest we send our strongest now."

"The Chaos Marines?"

"I said our strongest servants."

"Daemon Primarchs?"

"I said our _strongest_ servants."

"But who is – no. Surely not?"

"Yes. We should, must, send in Tarrasque."

* * *

"You know, I'm kind of glad this whole Remnant situation has come up."

"Really now?"

"Yes. It gives me an excuse to get those fucking strippers away from me for a while."

"That's the only reason?"

"Well, it does give me a chance to strike at Chaos."

"And what of the artifacts?"

The Emperor was silent. "So, I told the girl to deliver a message to the Lord Inquisitor. I can't believe that the first real combat experience for my golden banana men in nearly ten millennia is going to be on some extra-universal Daemon world that would be the perfect setting for a magical girl anime. It feels like too much of a joke to be real."

"I know what you mean. Especially compared to what we two have been through after the Fall."

"Which is, by the way, your race's fault."

"I don't deny that."

"Meaning that pretty much every single thing that has gone wrong since then is their fault."

"Now that's a bit of a stretch."

"Is it really? It was your race that created Slaanesh. It was Slaanesh's birth that destroyed both the human empire during the Age of Technology and my friendship with the three. Since that happened, they now work against me, trying to destroy humanity and all that I've worked for for so long, from before even their births. Let's not forget the Orks, who were created because you pansies couldn't fight the Necrons, both of whom are now at large in the galaxy. So yeah, pretty much everything wrong with the galaxy except the Tyranids is the Eldar's fault."

"Now that's kind of unfair-"

"Unfair? You want to know unfair? Sigmar fucked up worse than I did originally and he gets a second chance but I don't? _And_ he gets to make his elite soldiers magically immune to Chaos? If I had had that ability both of our races would be would be better off!"

"You know, if you're just going to whine all the time, I'm going to have to revoke your library card."

"I'm done for now. Let's just watch to see how this plays out."

"Does it concern you at all that Tau and Dark Eldar have found the planet?"

"Supposedly they're sanctioned. That's good enough for me until they prove themselves unworthy by, like, intentionally molesting Imperial forces or not being able to fight in melee or something."

* * *

"FUCK OFF HORUS CAN'T YOU SEE I'M BUSY PLANNING MY RETURN TO REALITY?" Malice shrieked. "So close, just a little bit longer. Nothing those fools can do will stop me, not when I have this army of brand new Daemons!"

"Dude, seriously, calm down. You're getting yourself psyched up, and you're going to be disappointed when it doesn't happen."

"You don't know that!"

"Yes I do."

"Oh yeah? How?" Malice continued shrieking.

"Because it happens every time. You maybe be the Chaos God of 'lol so randumb' but you are incredibly predictable when it comes to this."

"Name one time I got hyped for something that didn't happen."

"Battleborn."

"Shut up. It can still happen."

"That game fell out of existence millennia before the end of the Age of Terra! Just give up it's not happening."

"Never."

"Fine, but just know that you'll be eternally disappointed." Horus left before Malice could say another word. Unfortunate. He would have to seek him out later so he could bother him some more. But for now, Malice turned to Fantasy timeline. There he controlled the areas between the realms and travel between them, but he really to get a foot hold in the one of the realms. He returned to his task of turning Archaon to his cause.


	24. Chapter 24

A Reasonable Crusade

Part IV: Lux Fractus

Chapter IV: Bloody Women

"So, what brings you out to Patch, professor?"

"Actually, just 'sir,' is fine. I don't quite think I'm a professor anymore."

"Alright then, well, what brings you out to Patch?"

"During my stay at Beacon Ozpin charged me with protecting your daughter and her team. He told me to keep it on the down-low, so no one was informed." Taiyang looked a bit annoyed now. James wasn't entirely sure why. "A short time ago I was informed that Weiss Schnee, your daughter's partner, has gone missing, along with seven delegates of the Squat Engineers' Guild. Blake Belladonna, your other daughter's partner is also missing. Both of them have uh, _quarreled_ with the White Fang in the past. I fear that their association with Ruby and Yang might have put them at risk."

"So your checking to see if they're okay?"

"Precisely. Can I see them?"

"Yang is in her room, and Ruby, well, she isn't here."

"Any idea when she'll be back?"

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'?" Taiyang got up and walked to the kitchen. He drew a piece of paper from a drawer and brought it back for James to examine. The letter, written in red waxstick, simply read:

"Bye Dad, lol

– R"

"I found that on her bed a few days after she woke up."

"Lol. What does that mean? Is it a place or something?"

"It means 'laughing out loud'."

"Oh. Is there anyone who might know where she is?"

"I would say her uncle, Qrow, but," Taiyang pulled out another letter. This one was in black waxstick. It had a similar message to the first:

"Bye bro, lol

– Q"

"What about her mother? Is she he -" James stopped as he saw a depression come over Taiyang. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize."

"It's okay. It's been more than a decade since she died."

"But it hasn't stopped hurting, has it?"

"No. It hasn't."

"It never does." A moment of silence followed. It was Taiyang who finally spoke.

"What was her name?"

"Radomila. She was Kapitan in the Guard under me. Yours was?"

"Summer. She was a Huntress, on the same team as me, Qrow, and Raven, Yang's mother."

"What happened to Raven?"

"She couldn't take life out here. She left and returned to her tribe."

"Wow. That sucks."

"No kidding." Another moment of silence.

"I'll contact Zora, see if she knows where Ruby is. I'll be a pub later if you want to talk."

* * *

"She is _dissatisfied_ with your new Grimm, Great Mistress," the grating voice of the creature spilled out. It was a Halfman, one of the new types Salem had created.

"Well _I_ am dissatisfied with her performance lately. Tell her that if there is anything lacking about my Grimm, it is because she was incapable of utilizing them correctly. Remind her to not fail me again."

The Halfman bowed out. "As you wish, Great Mistress." The Grimm stepped back into shadow and disappeared, off to deliver her message. A wicked smile touched her lips.

' _Yes, these Grimm were very pleasing. Teleporting through shadows! How had I not thought of that?'_ She turned to find another Halfman waiting.

It bowed and spoke, "Great Mistress, I bring news from Lionheart."

"Oh? Do tell, my creature."

"He has met with the remaining Headmasters. He is trying to convince them to put all of the relics in one place, so that we may acquire them all in one strike."

"Excellent."

* * *

Rotmistrz Ewa Kazimierz strode through the stone hallways of Szcezcia's largest castellum. She had been summoned here to receive her regiment's first orders, direct from Holy Terra itself. Such an immense honor was given very rarely, and her's was the first Hussar regiment to ever receive such an honor. She arrived at the end of the hallway and stopped in front of a large wooden door, emblazoned with an Imperial Aquila and two banners with the heraldry of House Strzałkastwórca hanging from the top. Ewa walked up to the doors. Before opening them, she took a moment to steady her nerves. She did not want to embarrass her whole planet in front of such important messengers.

She pushed open the doors to three enormous men standing in the center of the room. Taller than an Astarte, and more muscular as well, the scraps of leather that pretended to be clothes left nothing to the imagination. A shiver ran down her spine as her loins grew hot.

Her groin was not the only region growing hot, and she immediately bowed, hoping that none of the Custodes would notice her red face.

"M-my lords Custodes," Ewa managed to stutter out, "I had not realized that you were the messengers sent by Holy Terra."

"You are Ride Mistress Casimir?"

"Y-yes my lord. That is my name in Low Gothic."

The Custode on the right broke in, "Yes, yes, we bear a message from our most luscious Emperor. It would greatly pleasure our Lord and Master if you would take your regiment and rescue one of his Inquisitors."

The left Custode continued, "By my oiled buttocks yes! Our master would be most pleased if you could get him off of that Daemon world he is stuck on."

"It will be done, my lords!"

"Good. Come brothers, it is time for us to return the Emperor and bring news of our success. She waited a few minutes to make sure the beings of pure lust had really left before getting up and leaving.

* * *

Innocent lead her team into the caves. She and two other platoons, along with the Space Marines and Team CFVY, had been assigned to clearing out this gathering of Daemons. Due to the nature of their quarry, the ship's quartermaster had seen fit to issue them with heavy weapons, three per platoon. Her's had the heavy bolters.

"Something doesn't feel right." Alfredus announced. "This is where the cavern should open up."

There was no large cavern, the small cave merely continued on into the darkness.

"Are ye sure this is the right cave?" Gawyn asked the Space Marine.

"Of course it is. Alfredus marked it with a waypoint on the satellite feed."

They had now reached the end of the cave, and the boys continued arguing about whether or not it was the correct one. Before Innocent could chime in, she noticed a small pinprick of light on the floor.

"What's this?" she asked as she moved over to investigate it. Everyone went quiet. She knelt down to look closer. "Looks like some sorta hole." There was a loud crack. Innocent slowly stood up and saw cracks growing from the small hole. Before she could say anything else, the floor gave out, plummeting her down to the cavern below.

As she fell she heard a panicked cry of, "Big Sis!" Then the rest of the false floor gave out, dropping almost four dozen people and one-and-a-half dozen Astartes, along with three heavy bolters, three heavy flamers, and three plasma cannons to join her.

Fortunately, Innocent, as well as her force, had somehow managed to survive the fall. Unfortunately, most of their heavy weapons had not. They were left with but a single heavy bolter now.

As she got up, she called to make sure everyone was alright. After receiving confirmation from everyone, Innocent surveyed their surroundings.

They were in a large cave, softly illuminated by the glow of luminescent moss. At one end, though she did not know which, she could see an exit. It appeared to be the only one, other than the exit at the top of the room, which was rendered unreachable by height.

Even as she did this, sets of red eyes began to appear in the dark. First in twos, then fives, then dozens, but by the time the few seconds she had spent observing were over, it seemed as if a gross of grosses worth of eyes were watching them.

"There's so many," she heard the abhuman mutter in her Mundus Australisan accent.

Hefting her autogun, Innocent said, "Guys, on three, run for that cave." It was a tense few seconds of looking at the eyes, as they looked back.

"Three!" she shouted, sprinting forward towards the exit. Where it went, she knew not where.

Her shout was met by the roars of the Grimm, and they rushed out to meet her. Not bothering to even aim, for the enemy was so thick even an Ork would have trouble missing, she emptied her autogun into the Daemons before her. She kept running, not bothering to count how many died.

The others also fired at the Daemons. The Space Marines focused on keeping the Daemons away from the group while everyone else focused on clearing the way.

Yatsuhashi leaped out in front of her, bisecting a Lesser Daemon with his gigantic blade. Leaping over the destabilizing body, she entered the cave. She slammed a new magazine in and took up position near the mouth of the cave. Coco was on the other side, heavy stubber firing past the retreating Imperials.

' _What sort of insane nutjob goes to fight in_ highheels _?'_ Innocent thought for the thousandth time that day.

The rest of the group rushed past her, some setting up next to her, others rushing further in.

"Collapsing retreat! On my mark those near the front run to fifteen feet behind those further in!"

"You got it Big Sis!" the men cried back.

Closer and closer the Daemons came, heedless of the fire that came from their cave. If their bodies did not dissolve they would have been piled up high enough to form a ramp to the upper exit, it seemed.

"Mark!" Innocent cried. As she did, she heard the deep churning of the heavy bolter open fire. The Space Marine Sergeant was firing it without the tripod, spitting death in the shape of .995 caliber bolt rounds into the Daemons. The sound brought a strange peace over her.

The lullaby of death sounded through the cave as she ran. Upon reaching the specified point, she about-faced and watched as the Daemons inched closer to the second team. As she did, Gawyn popped up next to her.

"Hey Inny, where does this cave lead?"

"To the surface, hopefully."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Then we'll climb to where we came in, or die trying. Mark!" The first group opened fire as the second retreated.

* * *

Jaune pushed open the hospital doors. RNJR was passing through Vale on their way to Mistral, and Jaune had convinced Ruby to let him go see Pyrrha. She and the others were waiting outside.

"Pyrrha! Pyrrha Nikos! What room is she in?" Jaune asked as he approached the receptionist. The waiting room was empty, surprising for a large hospital such as this. She pointed down the hall, and told which room.

As Jaune set off down the hall, he looked at the numbers beside each room. It was a long way to Pyrrha's room. As it drew closer he saw a doctor talking with one of the nurses. He was standing outside the room Jaune judged to be Pyrrha's.

"Are you Pyrrha's doctor?" Jaune asked as he approached.

"I am. Who are you?" he said. The nurse disappeared down the hall to attend to her nursely duties.

"Jaune Arc. I'm her Team Leader," Jaune noticed the look on the doctor's face. "Is something wrong?"

The doctor place a comforting hand on his shoulder. "She's dead. Her heart gave out five minutes ago. I just sent the nurse for her death certificate."

Jaune could feel his eyes start to water. His knees were weak, arms heavy. "Oh,"

They stood there for what seemed like hours. Jaune finally spoke up, "Can I see her? One last time?"

Whether the doctor could tell Pyrrha had special significance to him, or if it was something else, he wasn't sure, but he opened the door to Pyrrha's room. She was in there, lying on her side in the bed, her back towards him. Slowly he entered.

He was standing next to her bed, hands hovering over her.

 _'So this is what it is like. Loss. This crushing feeling, like the world is falling apart. Like nothing will ever be right again-'_

There was a gasp.

Jaune looked around for who made it. He was sure it wasn't him, but their wasn't anybody else in the room.

"Jaune?" That voice. It sounded almost like,

"Pyrrha!" Jaune shouted. He felt an amazing weight, one which had been on his shoulders since Beacon, he realized, be lifted from his shoulders.

"Oh Jaune! You're okay!"

"I'm okay? You're the one who was in danger!" The door opened.

"Alright, Mr. Arc. Time's u-" Then the doctor noticed Pyrrha sitting up.

"Hello there! Are you my doctor?" He blinked in response, the tore up the piece of paper in his hand.

"But. How? You're heart gave out more than five minutes ago! You should be dead, scientifically speaking." He called for a nurse and approached the bed. Pyrrha seemed startled by the news that she had died.

"Alright, now we have to hook Ms. Nikos back in to make sure everything is fine, so if you would please leave now, Mr. Arc,"

"Oh, please let him stay for a few more minutes,"

"Five. Then he leaves."

"Deal."

The doctor left the room and closed the door behind him. As soon as the door clicked shut, Jaune was tangled up in Pyrrha's arms, her head resting on his chest.

"Oh Jaune. I was so worried when I left you."

" _You_ were worried? But I was the one heading to safety."

"I know," was all Pyrrha said. She seemed like she wanted to say more, but didn't. Jaune didn't push her to say more, so he held her to him. They stayed like that, arms around each other, for a long time.

 _'She's alive!'_ Jaune screamed in his head, _'The one person who believed in me is still alive!'_

* * *

Weiss was breathing heavily. Leaning on Myrtenaster, she slowly picked herself up from her knees. Once standing she pulled it free from the body of the Schnee Dust Company employee she had skewered.

 _'He was already dead. What you did was a mercy,'_ she told herself. It was not the first time she had. Hopefully it would be the last.

"Alright lads, 'at looks like the last of 'em," Urist McDoctor called.

The entire facility had been zombified by the Warp Vampire. When she and the Squats had tried to make their escape, the zombies had descended upon them. Fighting through, they had managed to get back to their ship, only to find it destroyed and their pilot half-eaten. They couldn't repair the ship since they lacked the proper materials, and it was only once they had been surrounded by more zombies that they realized they had walked into a trap.

With nowhere to run, Weiss Schnee and the Seven Squats stood together, backs to the ruined vehicle. Fortunately, they had all made it through, bloodied but alive. Gloriously alive.

However, they would not stay that way long if they could not get out of the frozen wasteland that this particular facility was located in.

"Now where do we go from here?" Weiss asked.

"How are we supposed to know?" Urist McGrumpy answered. "You're the native here, you tell us!"

"Fine then!" Weiss answered back, her voice heating up. A spasm of chills coursed through her body, her coat having been damaged in the fighting, and when she spoke once more her tone was calmer. "Well, I know that Atlas is to the south, but I don't know what's between, and there are no roads to follow. We'll have to hike cross-country."

* * *

"Fuck you," I said smartly.

"No, fuck you," he said dumbly, like some sort of retard.

"No, fuck you!" I said smartly.

Blake closed the tab. That was enough internet cringe for one night. Instead, she decided she would content herself by watching Imperial anime. Going to a totally-not-pirate site, she searched up the newest one to come through, _One Punch Saint_. She had already watched some of it, and it was a rather intriguing premise. It starred Saitama, a normal guy whose faith in the Emperor, combined with a relatively simple exercise routine, gave him incredible strength. Curious, she had checked out the story it was based on. Everything in it was true, according to Imperial records, and the Ecclesiarchy did have St. Saitama listed as the Imperial Saint of strength and punching.

She finished watching the first season, then looked at the time. With a cry, she realized that it was now the next day, and that very soon the ship would be docking for a short stop.

Hurriedly cleaning herself and re-dressing, Blake wound her way through the small ship to the deck. There she found herself at the back of the line to go ashore. Enduring the agonizing wait, she was finally able to leave the ship. Stepping onto dry land, she found herself swaying uncomfortably. Such a long time spent at sea has its consequences, after all.

The ship had stopped to resupply at Citadel, one of the largest settlements on the east coast of Sanus. Blake decided to take the opportunity to go shopping.

Walking along the main street she looked into the window of one store. What she saw was quite interesting, to say the least. She could clearly see a smallish blue figure, nose-less and with what appeared to be hooves instead of feat, holding up a rather revealing dress. She appeared to be asking another blue person, who was holding his hand over his face. Curious, Blake decided to go in. As she did, a certain saying about cats flashed across her brain, but she put it aside.

"Well, what do you think?" the first blue person asked. It sounded like a girl, and had two small lumps on its chest, so she decided to think of it as a girl. The other, lacking the bumps and being more muscled, Blake decided to think of as a boy.

"You're a Firesight Marksman, not a Wych. Find something else to wear, it's not like they'd be able to see you from so far away."

The blue girl harrumphed, then, noticing Blake, decided to bring her into the conversation. "You there! Gue'la! What do you think of this dress?" Blake looked at it. It was actually, a four piece set, with black pants and bra, a white caped overcoat with a purple interior, and a white belt.

Struggling to form a coherent answer due to the surprise, Blake manages to get out, "Uh, I guess it's nice?" Before the girl could use her agreement the boy took it from her.

"Then you can have it," he said, shoving the dress into her hands. Firmly grabbing the girls wrist he said, "It's time we got back to the ship. You know how the Boss is." The girl merely sighed as she was dragged through the doors. Blake stood there in confusion for a moment, but was brought back to reality back the shopkeep.

"You going to pay for that?"


End file.
